BX  7321  .P3 

Painter,   J.  H. ,   b.  1841 
The  Iowa  pulpit  of  the 
Church  of  Christ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/iowapulpitofchurOOpain_0 


THE 


IOWA  PULPIT 

—OF  THE— 

Church  of  Christ, 

ITS  AIM  AND  WORK. 


Containing  a   Statement  uf  the 
its  History  in  Inu/a,  with 
Sketches  and 


Principles  of  our  Movement, 
Sermons,  Biographical 
Engravings, 


^EDITED  BY 

J.  II.  PAINTER. 


ST.  LOUIS  : 

CHRISTIAN   PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 


To  my  Fellow 
Christian  Preachers,  my  Sympathizing 
and  Helping  Brethren  and  Sisters  of  Iowa* 
and  TO 
F.  M.  DRAKE, 

THB  LARGEST  DONOR    TO  THE    CAUSE    OF    EDUCATION,  WITH 

H.  G.  VAN  METER, 
the  largest  contributor  to  the  state 
missionary  work, 
This  Volume  is  Affectionately 
Dedicated. 

The  Editor. 


CONTENTS. 


subject.  contributor,  page. 

Introduction   7 

Statement  of  the  Principles  and  Object 
of  the  Religious  Movement  in  the 

Church  of  Christ  •  F.  Walden   11 

Condition  of  Sonship  N.  A.  McConnell..  47 

Things  to  be  Heeded  G.T.  Carpenter...  61 

What  Saves  the  Sinner  F.  Walden   81 

Winning  Souls  D.  R.  Dungan   106 

Salvation  all  of  Grace  J.  K.  Cornell   125 

Preaching  »  J.  H.  Painter   187 

The  Royal  Priesthood  O.  L.  Brokaw   167 

The  Seriousness  of  the  Disciples' 

Mission  R.  E.  Swartz.   173 

The  Law  of  Increase  John  N.  Smith....  186 

Living  Unto  Christ  F.  M.  Kirhham. . .  203 

Marriage  and  Divorce,  H.  U.  Dale.   219 

T 


Tl  CONTENTS. 

subject,  contekutor.  page. 

The  Geeat  Conflict  Between  Romanism, 

Protestantism  and  Infidelity  D.  R.  Lucas   257 

The  Miebob  A  lien  Hickey   283 

What  Think  you  of  Cheist?  Whose 

Son  is  He?  L.  C.  Wilson   295 

Personal  Responsibility  E.  L.  Poston   327 

Why  Must  Christ  Die?  H.  A.  Northcutt..  343 

Abe  Ye  also  Deceived?  Chas.  Blanchard. .  359 

The  Will  of  God  J.  A.  Walters   377 

The  Suevival  of  the  Fittest  R.  H.  Johnson   393 

The  Blessedness  of  Faith  /.  Mad.  Williams.  415 

A  Brief  History  of  the  Iowa  Christian 

Convention  J.  B.  Vawter   ....  437 


INTRODUCTION. 


(fl^ljpHE  following  work  consists  of  three  natural 
divisions : 

I.  A  statement  of  the  principles  of  the  move- 
ment represented  by  the  Disciples  in  America, 
Europe  and  elsewhere,  and  such  a  statement  as 
accords  with  increased  biblical  knowledge  on  the  part  of 
their  advocates,  and  sets  them  forth  in  their  present  re- 
lation to  the  great  religious  movements  of  the  times.  A 
consciousness  of  competency  to  do  this  work,  of  course, 
lies  back  of  its  undertaking,  and  is  attempted  in  the 
belief  that  it  will  receive  the  approval  of  a  discrimina- 
ting brotherhood. 

The  object  is  to  put  into  permanent  form  and  in  such 
association,  the  statement  of  principles  that  it  may  be, 
and  will  be  kept  before  the  people,  and  assist  in  work- 
ing out  the  object  of  our  movement  long  after  its  writer 
shall  have  passed  to  his  reward. 

It  is  not  expected  that  it  will  supercede  or  render  value- 
less similar  efforts  heretofore  made  by  other  brethren ; 

vii 


viii 


INTRODUCTION. 


but  will  merely  help  in  swelling  the  forces  necessary  to 
our  work  as  a  whole,  by  gaining  access  to  persons,  on 
account  of  local  and  personal  attachments  which  others 
would  not  do. 

By  a  division  of  labor  in  the  preparation  of  the  book, 
this  work  has  fallen  upon  F.  Walden,  whose  scholarly 
attainments,  extensive  reading,  and  twenty-five  years  ex- 
perience in  the  ministry,  will  enable  him  to  meet  the 
expectation  of  his  brethren. 

II.  The  second  division  of  the  work  is  devoted  to 
biographical  sketches  and  sermons  of  a  limited  number, 
though  large  enough  to  represent  the  Iowa  pulpit,  of  liv- 
ing preachers,  whose  chief  fields  of  labor  have  been 
within  the  State. 

The  reader  who  has  read  Elijah  Goodwin's  "Family 
Companion,"  "The  Gospel  Preacher  "  by  Benj.  Frank- 
lin, or  the  u  Western  Preacher,"  needs  not  to  be  told  that 
this  will  be  a  most  interesting  feature  of  the  work.  And 
when  we  read  the  biographies  of  the  fathers  of  this  Re- 
formation, how  natural  for  us  to  desire  a  view  of  their 
features.  And  supposing  a  similar  desire  will  arise 
among  the  readers  of  this  book,  we  have  provided  engrav- 
ings of  the  contributors.  And  while  it  will  be  of  special 
interest  to  the  Iowa  brethren,  we  are  vain  enough  to 
think  it  can  be  read  with  profit  everywhere. 

III.  In  the  third  division  a  condensed  though  accu- 
rate history  of  the  work  in  Iowa,  is  given.  The  aim  has 
been  to  avoid  tediousness  in  this  department,  and  still  do 


INTRODUCTION. 


IX 


justice  to  the  facts.  The  more  important  feature  of  the 
history,  is  that  which  pertains  to  the  co-operative  efforts 
of  the  churches,  in  planting  the  gospel  everywhere  in 
Iowa;  and  to  that  feature  especial  attention  has  been 
given.  Indeed  there  is  little  else  in  the  history  of 
the  Iowa  work,  but  that  of  co-operation,  since,  from 
almost  the  very  first,  the  work  has  been  done  by  the  co- 
operation of  the  churches. 

The  difficulty  of  maintaining  sufficient  harmonv  of 
views,  to  make  much  progress  in  the  co-operation  of 
churches,  through  a  number  of  years,  when  there  is  con- 
tinual changing  of  preachers,  inflow  and  outflow  of  mem- 
bership by  emigration,  must  be  apparent  to  every  one. 

The  following  history  is  valuable  in  that  it  reveals, 
when  studied,  how  the  harmony  was  kept  unbroken,  and 
ihe  work  carried  on  despite  of  seemingly  overwhelming 
difficulties.  It  is  valuable  in  that  we  can  look  back  over 
the  mistakes,  and  avoid  them  in  the  future.  And  it  is 
written  that  the  children  of  those  living,  may  look  into  it 
and  gather  enthusiasm  and  counsel,  when  the  work  shall 
have  fallen  into  their  hands,  with  an  inspiration  that  will 
urge  them  still  onward. 

It  is  sufficient  to  inspire  confidence  in  the  completeness 
and  accuracy  of  this  phase  of  the  work,  to  announce  that  it 
was  prepared  by  J.  B.  Vawter,  than  whom  no  man  in  the 
State  has  been  more  closely  related,  during  those  years 
wherein  the  most  potent  forces  were  organized,  to  the 
results  as  they  now  exist. 


X 


nrrFvODTJCTioN. 


We  gratefully  acknowledge  our  indebtedness,  without 
mentioning  names,  to  each  of  the  contributors,  and  the 
many  others  who  have  encouraged  the  enterprise  by  pen 
and  tongue.  And  hoping  for  a  generous  reception,  we 
send  it  forth,  praying  the  blessing  of  God  upon  its  career. 

Editor. 


STATEMENT  OF  THE  PRINCIPLES  AND  OB- 
JECT OP  THE  RELIGIOUS  MOVEMENT 
OP  THE  DISCIPLES  OP  CHRIST. 


BY  F.  WALDEN 


S  it  right  to  multiply  sects  ?  There  can  be  but 
one  answer  to  this  question  in  harmony  with 
the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament.  Divi- 
sion among  the  children  of  God  is  severely 
condemned  (See  Rom.  16 : 17 ;  1  Cor.  1 : 10). 
Jesus  prayed  that  his  people  might  be  one,  and  this 
unity  cannot  refer  to  the  invisible  unity  among  the 
people  of  God,  as  some  maintain,  for  the  reason  as- 
signed for  their  being  one  is  "  That  the  world  may  be- 
lieve that  thou  hast  sent  me"  (See  John  17: 21.).  The 
world  could  not  see  any  unity  that  is  not  outward  and 
visible.  Unity  and  union  are  not  convertible  terms. 
There  may  be  unity  and  not  union,  but  both  should 
exist  among  the  children  of  God.  For  this  we,  as  a 
people,  have  plead  since  the  beginning  of  our  move- 
ment. In  fact,  our  existence  as  a  religious  people 
grew  out  of  an  effort  to  bring  about  union  among  the 
divided  children  of  God.  This  may  be  seen  by  ref- 
erence to  the  "  Declaration "  published  by  Thomas 
Campbell,  September  7, 1809. 

n 


12 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


If  sectism  is  wrong,  what  right  had  we  to  add 
another  one  to  the  already  long  list  ?  No  right  what- 
ever. And  if  we  did  such  a  thing  as  this  we  did 
wrong,  and  ought  to  abandon  our  movement.  We 
setup  the  plea  in  maintaining  our  right  to  live  and 
work  with  G-od's  approval  that  we  did  not  organize 
a  sect  when  we  began  our  separate  existence.  It  is 
pertinent  just  here  to  raise  this  question :  Can  a 
religious  body  be  so  organized  that  it  shall  not  be  a 
sect  and  its  members  not  sectarians  ?  We  think  it 
can  be  done.  Again,  was  the  primitive  church  as  it 
was  organized  by  the  Savior  and  His  Apostles,  a  sect 
in  the  sense  in  which  we  now  use  the  word  ?  No  one, 
we  presume,  will  claim  that  it  was.  No  sane  person 
would  say  that  the  members  of  the  primitive  church 
were  heretics,  and  guilty  of  heresy,  and  yet  it  is  well 
known  to  those  who  read  the  original,  that  sect  and 
heresy  are  translated  from  the  same  Greek  word 
(See  Acts  24 : 14  and  Acts  5 : 17.).  If  the  primitive 
church  was  not  a  sect  in  this  bad  sense,  then  to  re- 
store that  and  stand  where  it  stood,  would  not  be  to 
organize  a  sect.  So  thought  Thomas  Campbell  when 
he  published  the  "  Declaration "  referred  to  above. 
This  "  Declaration  "  was  accompanied  with  an  Ad- 
dress and  an  Appendix  explanatory  of  some  things 
in  the  Address.  Here  we  find  these  words :  "  If  the 
divine  word  be  not  the  standard  of  a  party,  then  are 
we  not  a  party,  for  we  have  adopted  no  other.  If  to 
maintain  its  alone- sufficiency  be  not  a  party  princi- 
ple, then  we  are  not  a  party.  If  to  justify  this  prin- 
ciple by  our  practice  in  making  a  rule  of  it,  and  of 


STATEMENT. 


IS 


it  alone,  and  not  of  our  own  opinions,  nor  of  those  of 
others,  be  not  a  party  principle,  then  we  are  not  a 
party.  If  to  propose  and  practice  neither  more  nor 
less  than  it  expressly  reveals  and  enjoins  be  not  a 
partial  business,  then  we  are  not  a  party.  These  are 
the  very  sentiments  we  have  approved  and  recom- 
mended, as  a  society  formed  for  the  express  purpose 
of  promoting  Christian  unity  in  opposition  to  party 
spirit."  (See  Memoirs  of  Alexander  Campbell,  vol. 
1,  p.  265). 

These  noble  sentiments  were  published  in  the  in- 
cipiency  of  our  movement,  and  out  of  this  effort  to 
call  God's  scattered  and  divided  children  back  to 
the  non-partism  position  of  the  primitive  church  and 
to  the  Bible  and  the  Bible  alone  as  our  rule  of  faith 
and  practice,  has  grown  our  separate  existence  as  a 
religious  people.  Could  such  a  movement,  if  carried 
out  in  the  noble  spirit  in  which  it  was  conceived,  re- 
sult in  the  addition  of  another  sect?  If  so,  then  we 
may  utterly  despair  of  escaping  the  terrible  evil  of 
sectism  and  the  charge  of  being  sectarians.  That  the 
purpose  to  return  to  the  faith  and  practice  of  the 
primitive  church  has  been  the  all  controlling  influ- 
ence that  has  shaped  and  moulded  our  religious  work, 
a  glimpse  at  our  history  will  clearly  reveal. 

At  the  time  that  Thomas  Campbell  published  his 
Declaration  and  Address  he  was  a  Presbyterian 
laboring  to  unite  the  scattered  children  of  God  in 
Western  Pennsylvania. 

One  of  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  "  Declara- 
tion" was  that  nothing  was  to  be  bound  "  upon  the 


14 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


children  of  God  as  matter  of  faith  or  duty,  for  which 
there  cannot  he  expressly  produced  a  'thus  saith  the 
Lord'  either  in  express  terms  or  by  approved  prece- 
dent."   This  led  to  the  abandonment  of  infant 
baptism  and  sprinkling  and  pouring.  Thomas  Camp- 
bell and  his  son  Alexander,  with  a  few  others  who 
stood  with  them  in  this  movement  for  the  union  of 
Christians  on  the  primitive  basis,  found  themselves 
by  this  step,  standing  with  the  Baptists,  but  still 
pleading  for  the  union  of  the  divided  children  of  God. 
Time  passes.    In  1823  Alexander  Campbell  com- 
menced the  publication  of  the  Christian  Baptist,  a 
monthly  periodical  devoted  to  the  advocacy  of  these 
noble  aims.    The  following  year  the  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Association  for  the  State  of  Kentucky  pub- 
lished in  its  minutes  a  call  for  a  general  conference 
of  all  Baptist  ministers  who  could  attend,  to  meet  in 
Lexington,  Ky.,  July  29,  1825,  to  consider  the  state 
of  religion  and  the  subject  of  reform.    This  call  con- 
tained the  following  suggestive  statement: 

"It  is  obvious  to  the  most  superficial  observer  who 
is  at  all  acquainted  with  the  state  of  Christianity, 
and  of  the  church  of  the  New  Testament,  that  much, 
very  much  is  wanting,  to  bring  the  Christianity  and 
the  church  of  the  present  day  up  to  that  standard." 

Mr.  Campbell  published  this  call  and  gave  it  his 
hearty  approval.  He  declared  this  a  move  in  the 
right  direction,  and  with  these  words  as  a  text  and 
starting  point,  he  began  the  publication  of  his  famous 
articles,  thirty-two  in  number,  on  the  "  Restoration 
of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Things."   In  his  first  article 


STATEMENT 


15 


Tinder  this  heading  occur  s.s  ^regnant  words: 
"Human  systems,  whether  of  philosophy  or  of  reli- 
gion, are  proper  subjects  of  reformation  ;  "but  Chris- 
tianity cannot  be  reformed.  Every  attempt  to 
reform  Christianity  is  like  an  attempt  to  create  a 
new  sun,  or  to  change  the  revolutions  of  the  heavenly 
bodies — unprofitable  and  vain.  *  *  *  A  restora- 
tion of  the  ancient  order  of  things,  is  all  that  is  neces- 
sary to  the  happiness  and  usefulness  of  Christians. 
*  *  *  We  are  glad  to  see,  in  the  above  extract, 
that  the  thing  proposed  is  to  bring  the  Christianity 
and  the  church  of  the  present  day,  up  to  the  standard 
of  the  New  Testament." 

What  came  out  of  the  conference  of  Baptist  minis- 
ters here  referred  to,  I  am  unable  to  say,  but  it  was 
a  move  in  the  right  direction,  and  in  our  hands  has 
borne  good  fruit. 

In  1827  the  Campbells  and  many  others  who  held 
with  them  as  to  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  order 
of  things,  cut  loose  from  all  party  organizations,  de- 
termined to  wear  no  name,  have  no  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  and  have  no  bonds  of  fellowship  but  such 
as  belonged  to  the  primitive  church  as  delineated  in 
the  New  Testament.  This  is  how  we  came  to  have  a 
separate  existence.  In  this  step  did  we  organize  a 
sect,  and  are  we  open  to  the  charge  of  fostering  divi- 
sion among  the  children  of  God  ?  If  so,  then  was  the 
primitive  church  a  sect  in  this  bad  sense,  and  to 
stand  with  Christ  and  the  Apostles  and  plead  for 
union  is  to  foster  division.  This  cannot  be.  If  it 
should  be  said  by  any  one  that  we  have  not  restored 


16 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


primitive  Christianity  and  are  therefore  a  sect,  onr 
reply  would  be  that  we  do  not  claim  infallibility  and 
may  have  made  some  mistakes,  but  stand  ready  to 
be  corrected.  Point  out  to  us  wherein  we  differ  from 
the  primitive  church  and  we  will  change  immediately. 
But  no  one  is  prepared  to  pronounce  upon  the  cor- 
rectness of  our  position  unless  he  fully  understands 
us.  But  experience  shows  us  that  when  any  one,  in 
a  candid  spirit,  has  examined  our  claims,  the  result 
is  that  we  have  one  more  added  to  the  mighty  army 
that  is  pleading  for  a  restoration  of  the  ancient 
order  of  things  and  the  union  of  God's  people  on  that 
basis.  With  the  captious  and  fault  finding  we  can 
do  nothing,  but  with  the  candid  and  God-fearing  we 
hope  to  accomplish  much.  For  the  benefit  of  those 
who  would  like  to  understand  our  plea,  some  of  our 
distinctive  features  are  pointed  out  and  our  reasons 
for  holding  them. 

L  "We  hold  that  Christianity  as  it  came  from  the 
the  hands  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  is  a  perfect 
system  and  incapable  of  being  improved.  Mark, 
this  is  said  of  the  Christian  system,  and  not  of  Chris- 
tians. Christians  may  go  on  improving  all  their 
lives,  but  this  is  done  by  striving  to  reach  the  per- 
fect standard  we  have  in  the  Bible.  They  never  go 
beyond  that  standard.  That  standard  never  can  be 
improved.  Christianity  in  this  respect  is  unique.  All 
other  systems  can  be  improved.  What  wonderful 
strides  of  improvement  have  been  made  in  medicine, 
for  instance.  What  is  true  of  medicine  is  true  of  all 
other  systems,  Christianity  alone  excepted.  Chris- 


STATEMENT. 


17 


tianity  alone,  of  all  the  systems  with  which  man  has 
to  do,  came  from  God.  Man  can  create  and  improve 
a  system  of  medicine,  of  political  economy,  of  educa- 
tion, of  music,  and  so  on,  but  God  only  could  give  him 
a  system  of  religion  adapted  to  his  wants.  Nothing  is 
so  transcendently  important  to  man  as  his  religion. 
Hence,  God  has  undertaken  to  regulate  that  and  man 
should  keep  his  unhallowed  hands  off  it. 

As  Christianity  was  given  to  us  as  a  perfect  sys- 
tem, we  cannot  add  to  it,  take  from  it,  or  in  any 
manner  change  it,  without  marring  its  perfection.  If 
this  position  were  always  kept  in  view,  we  should 
be  done  with  all  attempts  to  legislate  for  the  church. 
We  would  also  see  that  all  reformations  among  Chris- 
tians should  be  a  going  back  to  primitive  Christianity. 
Restoration  is  what  is  needed  in  all  such  cases. 
When  any  religious  body  finds  itself  to  be  in  the 
wrong,  and  in  need  of  improvement,  it  should  not  go 
to  work  to  reform  the  system  in  vogue,  such  as  the 
Roman  Catholic,  the  Anglican,  or  that  of  some  sect 
or  party.  The  imperfect  system  should  be  abandoned 
and  the  restoration  of  primitive  Christianity  effected. 
This  is  what  we,  as  a  religious  people,  have  attempt- 
ed  to  do.  This  is  our  distinctive  plea,  and  with  this 
end  in  view,  we  have  taken  our  stand  on  the  Bible, 
the  whole  Bible  and  nothing  but  the  Bible. 

IT.  We  have  no  creed  and  discipline  but  the  in- 
spired Scriptures.  We  should  be  inconsistent  in 
claiming  to  restore  the  ancient  order  of  things  if  we 
had  a  human  creed.  Ther3  can  be  no  dispute  with 
any  ;-s  to  what  the  primitive  church  had.    Can  it  be 


18 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


reasonable  to  suppose  that  God  undertook  to  furnish 
man  with  a  system  of  religion,  and  that  when  inspi- 
ration ceased,  that  system  was  so  imperfect  that  man 
had  to  be  constantly  patching  it  up  ?  The  primitive 
church,  when  inspiration  ceased,  had  the  inspired 
scriptures,  and  these  were  her  creed  and  discipline. 
Here  is  just  where  we  stand.  We  certainly  need 
nothing  more,  for  the  Apostle  Paul  says  that  when 
the  man  of  God  has  these  he  is  perfect  in  his  equip- 
ment— thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works. 
Nearly  all  Protestant  sects  acknowledge  the  all- 
sufficiency  of  the  scriptures  by  making  this  doctrine 
one  of  the  articles  in  their  creeds,  but  practically 
deny  it  by  binding  on  thier  adherents  authoritative, 
human  creeds,  as  bonds  of  Christian  fellowship. 
We  hold  to  the  all-sufficiency  of  the  scriptures, 
and  we  practice  what  we  preach. 

Some  one  may  be  ready  to  ask,  "  What  wrong  can 
there  be  in  publishing  to  the  world  what  we  believe  ? " 
There  is  no  wrong  whatever.  We  do  this  from  our 
pulpits  nearly  every  week.  Our  people  are  constantly 
setting  forth  our  views.  We  have  quite  a  respecta- 
ble book  literature  growing  up  among  us  in  which 
our  views  are  distinctly  set  forth.  Yea,  I  am  trying 
to  set  forth  our  views  in  what  I  am  now  writing.  But 
there  is  a  wide  difference  between  setting  forth  our 
views  for  the  information  of  those  who  desire  to  under- 
stand us  and  the  act  of  setting  these  views  up  as  an 
authoritative  standard,  and  refusing  fellowship  to 
those  who  will  not  subscribe  to  them.  It  is  making 
theories,  speculations  and  opinions,  tests  of  fellow- 
ship that  we  object  to. 


STATEMENT. 


19 


"  But  a  church  cannot  get  along  without  some 
rules  by  which  to  be  governed,"  some  one  may  say. 
Certainly  not.  But  does  not  the  Bible  contain  all 
the  rules  we  need  ?  Ought  a  man  to  be  condemned 
for  anything  that  the  Bible  does  not  condemn  ?  Who 
will  dare  to  say  he  ought?  If  the  Bible  condemns  a 
certain  course  of  conduct,  will  it  make  the  condemna- 
tion stronger  to  put  it  into  a  human  system  ?  If  a 
human  creed  contains  more  than  the  Bible,  it  contains 
too  much ;  if  it  contains  less  than  the  Bible,  it  con- 
tains too  little ;  if  it  contains  j  ust  what  is  in  the 
Bible,  it  is  the  Bible,  and  not  a  human  system. 

IH.  We  reject  all  human  names  for  the  church  and 
people  of  God.  This  we  are  compelled  to  do  if  we 
are  true  to  our  plea  of  a  restoration  of  primitive 
Christianity.  Many  Protestant  bodies  have  taken 
on  themselves  human  names,  as  witness  the  names 
Lutheran,  Wesleyan,  Baptist,  Congregationalist, 
Presbyterian  and  the  like,  and'  in  this  have  departed 
from  the  ancient  order  of  things.  "We  positively  re- 
fuse to  wear  any  name  not  sanctioned  by  the  word 
of  God,  as  "  Campbellite,"  for  instance.  Many  have 
wondered  why  we  are  so  tenacious  in  refusing  this 
nick-name.  We  honor  Alexander  Campbell  as  a 
great  and  good  man.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  repre- 
sent him  as  the  founder  of  the  church  of  which  we 
are  members.  He  never  aimed  to  found  a  church  or 
make  a  party  or  sect  in  the  church.  His  aim  was  to 
restore  the  ancient  church.  But  we  should  dishonor 
his  name  if  we  should  consent  to  wear  it  as  a  desig- 
nation of  the  church,  for  in  doing  this  we  should  have 


20 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


to  depart  from  his  teachings,  and  abandon  the  great 
principle  of  the  restoration  of  primitive  Christianity 
to  the  advocacy  of  which  he  gave  the  energies  of  a 
long  and  laborious  life.  We  cannot  abandon  our 
principles,  and  above  all,  dishonor  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  "of  whom  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  in 
earth  is  named,"  by  wearing  an  unscriptural  name. 
We  have  been  ca'led  exclusive  for  calling  ourselves 
Christians,  Disciples,  etc.  We  do  not  do  this  because 
we  deny  the  right  of  others  to  wear  these  scriptural 
names.  In  fact  we  should  be  glad  to  see  the  children 
of  God  everywhere  drop  the  names  that  designate 
them  as  parties,  and  thus  remove  one  evidence  of 
division,  and  to  some  extent  a  cause  of  division.  No, 
it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  we  claim  to  be  the 
only  Christians  in  the  world.  If  this  were  so  we 
should  at  once  cease  to  plead  for  Christian  union, 
for  I  hen  all  Christians  would  be  one,  for  we  are  one. 
Then  we  should  have  to  labor  for  their  conversion 
and  not  their  union.  It  certainly  cannot  be  exclu- 
siveness  for  us  to  wear  names  that  are  not  badges  of 
sectarianism.  Who  can  say  that  Christian  is  a  sec- 
tarian name?  Who  can  say  that  to  be  a  Christian  is 
the  same  thing  as  to  be  a  sectarian  ?  As  we  do  not 
claim  any  right  to  monopolize  the  use  of  this  name, 
but  are  anxious  that  all  should-wear  it,  we  are  not 
exclusive. 

It  may  be  claimed,  as  it  sometimes  is,  that  if  Pres- 
byterians, Methodists,  Congregationalists,  et  al., 
should  drop  these  names,  they  would  soon  be  so 
mixed  up  that  we  could  not  tell  one  from  another. 


STATEMENT. 


21 


God  grant,  then,  that  the  names  may  be  speedily 
dropped.  All  that  we  onght  to  know  of  each  other 
is  that  we  are  Christians — true  children  of  God. 

"  But  there  is  nothing  in  a  name."  Then  why  are 
these  party  names  held  to  with  so  much  tenacity  ? 
Certainly  it  ought  not  to  he  hard  to  give  up  that 
which  is  of  no  importance.  But  alas,  there  is  much 
in  these  names.  They  are  badges  of  parties  and 
evidence  of  sectarianism.  If  it  was  wrong  for  the 
church  in  Corinth  to  have  divisions  in  it  and  for  some 
to  say,  "  I  am  of  Paul ;  and  I  of  Apollos ;  and  I  of 
Cephas ;  and  I  of  Christ ; "  how  much  better  is  it  in 
New  York  or  Chicago  for  God's  people  to  be  divided 
and  one  to  say,  "  I  am  a  Methodist ; "  and  another,  "  I 
am  a  Presbyterian  "  and  still  another,  "  I  am  a  Bap- 
tist ?  "  That  noble  man  of  God,  Philip  Doddridge,  in 
making  an  application  of  what  Paul  wrote  to  the 
Corinthians  to  the  present  divided  state  of  Chris- 
tianity, uses  these  significant  words:  "Let us  avoid 
as  much  as  possible  a  party  spirit,  and  not  be  fond 
of  listing  ourselves  under  the  name  of  this  or  that 
man,  how  wise,  how  good,  how  great  soever.  For 
surely  if  the  names  of  Peter  and  Paul  were  in  this 
view  to  be  declined,  much  more  are  those  which  in 
these  latter  days,  have  so  unhappily  crumbled  the 
Christian  and  Protestant  interest,  and  have  given  such 
sad  occasion  to  our  enemies  to  reproach  us.  Christ  is 
not  divided :  nor  were  Luther  or  Calvin,  or  even  Peter 
or  Paul,  crucified  for  us ;  nor  were  we  baptized  into 
any  of  their  names."  (See  the  Family  Expositor,  1 
Cor.  1 : 12,  13.).  This  exactly  represents  the  spirit  of 


22 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


our  teachings.  Surely  if  we  love  Christ  more  than 
party,  we  will  wear  his  name  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
party  name. 

IV.  We  practice  immersion  because  the  primitive 
church  did ;  we  reject  sprinkling  and  pouring  and 
infant  baptism  because  we  are  confident  that  they 
were  unknown  to  the  church  of  that  day.  It  ma,y  be 
claimed  that  we  ought  not  to  speak  with  such  confi- 
dent assurance  on  a  question  upon  which  good  and 
true  men  differ.  Our  answer  is  that  this  difference 
is  not  as  to  what  the  primitive  church  practiced.  If  all 
the  pious  and  learned  Paedobaptists  were  arrayed 
on  one  side,  and  all  who  practice  immersion  only 
and  reject  infant  baptism,  on  the  other,  as  to  what 
was  the  practice  of  the  primitive  church  in  these 
things,  it  would  be  a  very  different  matter  from  what 
it  now  is.  Then  it  would  be  well  to  ask  us  to  pause 
and  be  more  modest  in  what  we  say  on  such  ques- 
tions. But  we  only  carry  out  what  the  most  candid 
and  scholarly  of  Paedobaptists  teach,  when  we  take 
our  stand  as  we  have  done  on  these  matters.  If 
asked  to  mention  three  of  the  most  eminent  Psedo- 
baptist  church  historians,  I  think  all  classes  would 
name  Mosheim,  Neander,  and  Philip  Schaff.  What 
do  they  say  as  to  the  practice  of  immersion  in  the 
primitive  church  ?  Mosheim  says  :  "  The  sacrament 
of  baptism  was  administered  in  this  century  without 
the  public  assemblies,  in  places  appointed  and  pre- 
pared for  that  purpose,  and  was  performed  by  im- 
mersion of  the  whole  body  in  the  baptismal  font." 
(Ecc.  His.,  Cent.  1,  Part  ii,  Chap,  iv.) 


STATEMENT. 


23 


Neander  in  his  church  history  says:  "Baptism 
was  originally  administered  by  immersion."  "In 
respect  to  the  form  of  baptism,  it  was,  in  conformity 
with  the  original  institution  and  the  original  symbol, 
performed  by  immersion,  as  a  sign  of  entire  immer- 
sion into  the  Holy  Spirit,  of  being  entirely  penetrated 
by  the  same."  (See  Neander's  History  of  the  Chris- 
tian Religion  and  Church,  Torrey's  Translation,  p. 
310).  That  all  who  read  this  may  know  something  of 
the  weight  there  is  in  Neander's  testimony  on  such  a 
question,  I  give  the  endorsement  of  the  distinguished 
American  Presbyterian,  Dr.  Edward  Robinson,  who 
in  his  Biblical  Repository  of  1833  says :  "  The  Lec- 
tures of  Neander  upon  the  New  Testament  are 
superior  to  those  of  any  living  lecturer  in  Germany. 
He  has  studied  to  a  greater  extent,  and  with  larger 
result,  than  any  man  now  living,  all  the  works  of  the 
fathers  and  other  ancient  writers,  as  also  all  the 
writings  of  the  middle  ages,  which  have  any  bearing 
upon  either  the  external  or  internal  history  of  the 
Christian  religion.  He  has  entered  into  their  very 
spirit,  and  made  himself  master  of  -all  their  stores. 
These  are  points  on  which  there  is  no  question  among 
scholars  of  Germany  of  any  sect  or  name.  What 
Neander  affirms  upon  any  subject  connected  with 
such  studies,  comes  with  the  weight  of  the  highest 
authority;  because  it  is  understood  and  known 
to  be  the  result  of  minute  personal  investigation, 
united  with  entire  candor  and  a  perfect  love  of  truth." 
This  is  the  man,  though  himself  a  Psedobaptist,  who 
says  that  "Baptism  was  originally  administered  by 


22 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


our  teachings.  Surely  if  we  love  Christ  more  than 
party,  we  will  wear  his  name  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
party  name. 

IV.  We  practice  immersion  because  the  primitive 
church  did ;  we  reject  sprinkling  and  pouring  and 
infant  "baptism  because  we  are  confident  that  they 
were  unknown  to  the  church  of  that  day.  It  may  be 
claimed  that  we  ought  not  to  speak  with  such  confi- 
dent assurance  on  a  question  upon  which  good  and 
true  men  differ.  Our  answer  is  that  this  difference 
is  not  as  to  what  the  primitive  church  practiced.  If  all 
the  pious  and  learned  Paedobaptists  were  arrayed 
on  one  side,  and  all  who  practice  immersion  only 
and  reject  infant  baptism,  on  the  other,  as  to  what 
was  the  practice  of  the  primitive  church  in  these 
things,  it  would  be  a  very  different  matter  from  what 
it  now  is.  Then  it  would  be  well  to  ask  us  to  pause 
and  be  more  modest  in  what  we  say  on  such  ques- 
tions. But  we  only  carry  out  what  the  most  candid 
and  scholarly  of  Psedobaptists  teach,  when  we  take 
our  stand  as  we  have  done  on  these  matters.  If 
asked  to  mention  three  of  the  most  eminent  Psedo- 
baptist  church  historians,  I  think  all  classes  would 
name  Mosheim,  Neander,  and  Philip  Schaff.  What 
do  they  say  as  to  the  practice  of  immersion  in  the 
primitive  church  ?  Mosheim  says  :  "  The  sacrament 
of  baptism  was  administered  in  this  century  without 
the  public  assemblies,  in  places  appointed  and  pre- 
pared for  that  purpose,  and  was  performed  by  im- 
mersion of  the  whole  body  in  the  baptismal  font." 
(Ecc.  His.,  Cent.  1,  Part  ii,  Chap,  iv.) 


8TATBMBNT. 


23 


Neander  in  his  church  history  says:  "Baptism 
was  originally  administered  "by  immersion."  "In 
respect  to  the  form  of  baptism,  it  was,  in  conformity 
with  the  original  institution  and  the  original  symbol, 
performed  by  immersion,  as  a  sign  of  entire  immer- 
sion into  the  Holy  Spirit,  of  being  entirely  penetrated 
"by  the  same."  (See  Neander's  History  of  the  Chris- 
tian Religion  and  Church,  Torrey's  Translation,  p. 
310).  That  all  who  read  this  may  know  something  of 
the  weight  there  is  in  Neander's  testimony  on  such  a 
question,  I  give  the  endorsement  of  the  distinguished 
American  Presbyterian,  Dr.  Edward  Robinson,  who 
in  his  Biblical  Repository  of  1833  says :  "  The  Lec- 
tures of  Neander  upon  the  New  Testament  are 
superior  to  those  of  any  living  lecturer  in  Germany. 
He  has  studied  to  a  greater  extent,  and  with  larger 
result,  than  any  man  now  living,  all  the  works  of  the 
fathers  and  other  ancient  writers,  as  also  all  the 
writings  of  the  middle  ages,  which  have  any  bearing 
upon  either  the  external  or  internal  history  of  the 
Christian  religion.  He  has  entered  into  their  very 
spirit,  and  made  himself  master  of  -all  their  stores. 
These  are  points  on  which  there  is  no  question  among 
scholars  of  Germany  of  any  sect  or  name.  "What 
Neander  affirms  upon  any  subject  connected  with 
such  studies,  comes  with  the  weight  of  the  highest 
authority;  because  it  is  understood  and  known 
to  be  the  result  of  minute  personal  investigation, 
united  with  entire  candor  and  a  perfect  love  of  truth." 
This  is  the  man,  though  himself  a  Paedobaptist,  who 
says  that  "Baptism  was  originally  administered  by 


24 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


immersion."  Surely  if  there  were  no  other  evidence 
as  to  the  practice  of  the  primitive  church,  such  a 
guide  would  be  safe. 

Dr.  Philip  Schaff,  of  our  own  country,  known  to  be 
one  of  the  ripest  scholars  of  any  age  or  land,  says  in 
his  Ecclesiastical  History,  written  about  the  middle 
of  this  century:  "Finally,  as  it  respects  the  mode  or 
manner  of  outward  baptizing,  there  could  be  no 
doubt  that  immersion  and  not  sprinkling  was  the 
original  normal  form,"  p.  488. 

Even  as  late  as  1879.  the  late  eminent  Dean  Stanley 
in  an  article  on  baptism,  in  the  October  number  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century  says :  "  "We  now  pass  to  the 
change  in  the  form  itself.  For  the  first  thirteen  cen- 
turies the  almost  universal  practice  of  baptism  was 
that  of  which  we  read  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
which  is  the  very  meaning  of  the  word  "baptize" — 
that  those  who  were  baptized  were  plunged,  sub- 
merged, immersed  in  water." 

This  is  sufficient.  I  might  give  the  testimony  of 
Luther,  Calvin.  John  Wesley,  Philip  Doddrige  and 
hundreds  of  others,  all  of  whom  admit  that  the 
primitive  church  practiced  immersion.  Then  the  long 
list  of  lexicons  might  be  presented,  all  of  which  give 
immerse  as  the  primary  meaning  of  the  word  baptizo. 
Charles  Anthon,  our  distinguished  American  lexi- 
cographer, voices  all  the  lexicons,  when,  in  his  letter 
to  Dr.  Parmly,  he  says :  "The  primary  meaning  is 
to  dip  or  immerse,  and  its  secondary  meaning,  if  it 
ever  had  any,  all  refer  in  some  way  or  other  to  the 
same  leading  idea.    Sprinkling,  etc.,  are  entirely  out 


STATEMENT. 


25 


of  the  question."  (R.  Fuller,  on  Baptism,  p.  45). 
The  only  support  that  those  who  practice  sprinkling 
and  pouring  can  claim  from  the  lexicons  is  that 
some  of  them  give  wash,  bathe,  wet,  and  the  like  as 
secondary  meanings.  But  such  a  distinguished 
scholar  as  Anthon  says  that  these  secondary  mean- 
ings must  refer  to  the  leading  idea  of  immersion  and 
that  sprinkling  and  pouring  are  entirely  out  of  the 
question.  William  Greenfield,  whose  lexicon  was 
written  to  explain  the  New  Testament  use  of  the  word 
says  that  baptizo  means  to  immerse,  immerge,  sub- 
merge, sink,  wash.  But  in  his  Defence  of  the  Mah- 
ratta  Version  he  explains  in  what  sense  he  uses  the 
word  wash.  He  says:  "It  is  evident  that  to  wash 
the  body  or  person,  without  specifying  any  particu- 
lar part  of  the  body,  must  necessarily  denote  to 
bathe,  which  clearly  implies  immersion."  Thus  we 
see  that  there  is  no  support  to  sprinkling  and  pour- 
ing in  these  secondary  meanings.  They  all  refer  in 
some  way  or  other,  to  the  same  leading  idea  of  im- 
mersion— sprinkling  and  pouring  are  entirely  out  of 
the  question.  These  testimonies,  be  it  remembered, 
are  not  from  those  who  practice  immersion  and  are 
trying  to  uphold  their  practice  il  by  the  violent  suc- 
cor of  art,  invention  and  allegory,"  but  are  from  men 
who  are  eminent  scholars  testifying  against  their 
own  practice.  Then  why  do  they  practice  as  they 
do  ?  Some  offer  one  apology  and  some  another.  Gen- 
erally the  plea  is  that  ottered  by  John  Calvin,  who 
says  in  his  comments  on  Acts  8 :  32 :  "  Here  we  see 
plainly  what  the  rite  of  baptizing  was  among  the 


26 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ancients ;  for  they  immersed  the  whole  "body  into 
water.  Now  the  practice  has  come  into  vogue,  that 
the  minister  shall  only  sprinkle  the  body  or  the  head. 
But  so  small  a  difference  of  ceremony  ought  not  to 
be  of  so  great  importance  to  us,  that  we  should  on 
that  account  divide  the  church  or  disturb  it  with 
strifes."  Thus  the  fathers,  in  the  early  stage  of  the 
Reformation,  apologized  for  the  change  in  this  ordi- 
nance that  had  crept  in  during  the  apostacy  that 
resulted  in  the  Roman  Catholic  church  and  all  its  cor- 
ruptions. But  the  vital  question  with  us  is  not  what 
apologies  are  offered  for  this  change,  but  what  was  the 
primitive,  apostolic  practice  ?  Upon  this  point  there 
is  marked  unanimity  among  the  leading  scholars  of 
all  denominations.  Now  as  our  aim  is  to  restore 
the  ancient  order  of  things,  what  could  we  do,  and 
be  true  to  our  plea,  but  to  abandon  sprinkling  and 
pouring,  and  practice  that  which  is  not  in  dispute? 
For  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  is  not  a  Prot- 
estant church  in  our  land  that  does  not  sanction  the 
validity  of  immersion.  Let  a  man  present  himself 
to  a  Methodist,  Presbyterian  or  Congregationalist 
church  for  instance,  and  ask  for  membership,  sajdng 
at  the  same  time  that  he  has  been  immersed.  If  his 
other  qnaliiications  are  all  right,  he  will  be  accepted. 
This  every  one  knows  who  reads  these  lines.  Thus 
immersion  is  endorsed  as  common  ground  upon  which 
all  ca'n  unite,  and  it  is  common  ground  because  it  is 
primitive,  apostolic  ground  and  that  is  better  still. 

As  to  infant  baptism  we  reject  it  because  the  New 
Testament  knows  nothing  of  it.    This  is  admitted 


STATEMENT. 


27 


"by  many  of  the  candid  who  practice  it.  Let  us 
examine  a  few  out  of  the  many  admissions  on  this 
point.  Neander  in  his  Church  History  says :  "  Bap- 
tism was  administered  at  first  only  to  adults,  as  men 
were  accustomed  to  conceive  baptism  and  faith  as 
strictly  connected.  We  have  all  reason  for  not 
deriving  infant  "baptism  from  apostolic  institution." 
p.  311.  Olshausen  in  his  commentary  when  treating 
of  the  baptism  of  Lydia  and  her  household,  Acts, 
16 :  15  says :  "  There  is  no  trace  to  be  found  here  of 
instruction  before  baptism ;  without  doubt  the  rite 
took  place  merely  on  a  profession  of  faith  in  Jesus 
as  the  Messiah.  But  for  that  very  reason  it  is 
highly  improbable  that  the  phrase  her  household 
should  be  understood  as  including  infant  children ; 
relatives,  servants,  grown  children  might  be  baptized 
along  with  her,  for  they  would  be  at  once  carried 
away  by  the  youthful  power  of  her  new  life  of  faith. 
There  is  altogether  wanting  airy  conclusive  proof 
'  passage  for  the  baptism  of  children  in  the  age  of 
the  apostles,  nor  can  the  necessity  of  it  be  de- 
duced from  the  nature  of  baptism.  In  the  words 
describing  the  institution  of  baptism,  in  Matt. 
28:19,  the  connection  of  discipling  with  baptising 
and  teaching  appears  quite  positively  to  oppose 
the  idea,  that  the  baptism  of  children  entered  at 
first  into  the  view  of  Christ."  DeWette,  an  emi- 
nent German  scholar  and  theologian  says :  "  The 
baptism  of  children  is  not  to  be  considered  as  an 
apostolic  institution,  but  arose  gradually  in  the  post- 
apostolic  age,  after  early  and  long  continued  resist- 


28 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ance,  in  connection  with  certain  views  of  doctrine, 
and  did  not  become  general  in  the  church  till  after 
the  time  of  Augustine.  The  defence  of  infant  bap- 
tism transcends  the  domain  of  exegesis,  and  must  be 
given  up  to  that  of  dogmatics."  (See  Hackett  on 
Acts  16:15.).  We  might  examine  those  scriptures 
sometimes  relied  on  by  Psedobaptists  to  prove  in- 
fant baptism,  but  it  cannot  be  considered  necessary 
with  the  candid  and  unprejudiced.  If  such  able 
scholars  as  we  have  quoted  can  find  no  proof  of  in- 
fant baptism  in  the  New  Testament,  when  it  would 
so  manifestly  be  to  their  advantage  to  do  so,  for 
they  are  all  Pa3dobaptists,  then  we  may  conclude 
that  such  proof  is  not  there.  Not  a  trace  of  this 
practice  can  be  found  till  the  church  had  begun  to 
widely  depart  from  the  simplicity  of  the  apostolic 
age.  As  we  are  laboring  to  restore  the  ancient  order 
of  things  we  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  that  which 
even  many  of  its  candid  friends  admit  is  without 
scriptural  warrant  and  arose  in  the  post  apostolic 
age. 

We  believe  in  training  up  children  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  But  we  cannot  see 
that  infant  baptism  adds  one  whit  in  this  direction. 
Besides  the  child  baptized  in  its  infancy  is  denied 
the  privilege  among  Paedobaptists  of  making  a  per- 
sonal surrender  to  Christ  in  this  ordinance.  Bap- 
tism has  in  it  no  sacrificial  grace — no  power  to 
change  the  heart  by  the  mere  opus  operatum  of  the 
institution.  As  this  must  be  done  by  faith  in  Christ 
and  this  faith  is  wanting  in  the  child,  the  ceremony 


STATEMENT. 


29 


is  absolutely  void  of  all  spiritual  effect,  and  there- 
fore utterly  useless.  When  the  child  has  grown  up 
and  its  heart  is  turned  to  Christ  by  the  power  of  a 
living  faith,  then  baptism  may  be  an  obedience 
from  the  heart,  and  an  act  of  personal  consecration 
to  him  whose  blood  alone  can  save  us  from  our  past 
sins.  Such  a  baptism  lias  something  in  it  that 
commends  it  to  our  admiration.  It  is  more  than  a 
mere  external  ceremony.  It  represents  to  us  a 
dying  to  sin  and  a  rising  to  walk  in  newness  of  life. 

Our  views  on  the  action  and  subject  of  baptism 
are  in  harmony  with  those  held  by  the  Baptists  and 
we  rejoice  that  this  is  so.  But  we  hold  them  not 
for  this  reason,  but  because  they  harmonize  with 
our  plea  for  a  return  to  ancient,  apostolic  order. 

V.  We  attend  to  the  weekly  observance  of  the 
Lord's  Supper.  In  this  we  are  peculiar  as  a  people. 
There  are  some  local  congregations  among  some  of 
the  denominations  that  weekly  celebrate  the  Lord's 
Supper,  as  Spurgeon's  and  some  others  among  the 
Baptists,  for  instance,  but  there  is  no  religious  body 
that  teaches  and  practices  weekly  communion  in  all 
its  local  congregations  except  the  Disciples.  Prom 
the  beginning  of  our  movement  we  have  insisted  on 
this  practice.  Among  our  people  the  practice  is 
universal  unless  among  some  of  our  imperfectly  or- 
ganized congregations  in  the  new  settlements  of  the 
West.  We  could  not  do  otherwise  and  be  consis- 
tent with  our  plea.  We  believe  that  the  primitive 
church  met  on  the  first  day  of  every  week  to  break 
bread — in  fact  that  it  was  a  part  of  the  observance 


30  THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 

of  the  first  day  of  the  week.  If  this  he  so,  then, 
there  can  he  no  question  as  to  what  we  ought  to  do. 
Some  of  the  reasons  for  so  believing  will  now  be 
given. 

When  we  have  insisted  on  the  weekly  observance 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  we  have  sometimes  been  met 
with  the  question,   "  Where  are  we  commanded  to 
attend  to  the  Lord's  Supper  on  the  first  day  of  every 
week?"    Our  answer  is:  Nowhere.  The  obligation 
does  not  rest  on  any  command  left  us,  but  on  the 
example  of  the  apostolic  church.    The  authority 
for  the  weekly  observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
rests  on  the  same  basis  as  the  weekly  observance 
of  the  Lord's  day,  or  first  day  of  the  week.  The 
Jews  kept  the  seventh  day  of  the  week,  Christ 
ians  keep  the  first.    What  is  our  authority  for 
this  change?    There  is  no  explicit  command  left 
us  for  this.    But  there  must  have  been  such  a  com- 
mand given  to  the  primitive  church,  for  we  find 
that  the  early  disciples  met  on  this  day  and  the 
apostle  Paul  met  with  them,  and  gave  his  sanc- 
tion to  the  custom,  a  thing  he  would  not  have  done 
had  it  been  without  divine  warrant.    So  we  keep 
the  Lord's  day  by  example.    Bat  what  is  the  ex- 
ample? Is  it  to  abstain  from  work?  Not  that.  Is  it 
to  meet  and  hear  a  sermon?  It  is  certainly  more  than 
that.    Turn  to  Acts  20 : 7,  and  there  we  have  the  ex- 
ample: "Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week,  when  the 
disciples  came  together  to  break  bread,  Paul  preach- 
ed unto  them."   Notice  the  purpose  of  their  coming 
togetkev-^when  the  disciples  came  together  to  break 


STATEMENT. 


31 


bread.  Had  they  come  together  to  hear  Paul  preach 
and  then  broke  bread,  the  record  would  have  been 
on  this  wise :  "  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week,  when 
the  disciples  came  together  to  hear  Paul  preach, 
they  broke  bread."  We  have  to  make  the  scrip- 
tures read  wrong  to  fit  such  an  interpretation,  and 
that  alone  condemns  it.  The  purpose  of  their  meet- 
ing was  to  break  bread,  and  no  doubt  they  would 
have  assembled  for  that  purpose  had  Paul  not  been 
there.  It  seems  from  the  record  that  Paul  and  part 
of  his  company  reached  Troas  on  what  we  call  Mon- 
day, and  in  order  to  meet  with  the  disciples  in  their 
weekly  meeting,  they  abode  there  seven  days.  Hav- 
ing met  with  them  when  they  came  together  to  break 
bread,  as  their  custom  was,  he  preached  to  them, 
"ready  to  depart  on  the  morrow."  Here  is  our 
authority  for  first  day  observance.  But  can  we 
keep  the  day  unless  we  follow  the  example  ?  Cer- 
tainly not.  Then  we  must  come  together  on  that 
day  to  break  bread,  whether  we  have  preaching 
or  not. 

While  we  are  looking  at  the  authority  in  God's 
word  for  the  weekly  observance  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, it  will  be  well  to  examine  Acts  2 : 42,  which  reads 
as  follows:  "And  they  continued  steadfastly  in  the 
Apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  in  breaking 
bread,  and  in  prayers."  Olshausen,  the  distinguished 
German  commentator,  maintains  that  this  passage 
gives  the  order  or  elements  of  worship  connected  with 
the  stated  meetings  of  the  early  church.  But  their 
stated  meetings  -  were  upon  the  Lord's  day,  so  theD 


32  THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 

when  the  early  Christians  assembled  on  the  Lord's 
day  which  was  every  Lord's  day,  and  not  once  in  three 
months,  or  once  in  a  year,  there  was  teaching  (doc- 
trine), the  breaking  of  bread,  the  fellowship  (which 
Olshausen  understands  to  mean  the  collection,  and 
says  that  nearly  all  modern  scholars  agree  with  him 
in  this  view),  and  prayers.  These  elements  of  pub- 
lic worship  correspond  exactly  with  what  Justin 
Martyr  states  was  the  custom  among  all  Christians 
in  the  towns  and  in  the  country,  in  the  days  imme- 
diately following  the  apostolic  age.  These  words  of 
Justin  will  be  given  under  the  head  of  historic  testi- 
mony, soon  to  follow.  Such  then,  is  the  scriptural 
warrant  for  the  stated,  which  must  be  the  weekly, 
observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

I  now  want  to  turn  the  light  of  subsequent  history 
on  these  scriptures,  that  we  may  see  more  clearly 
what  they  teach.  We  cannot  practice  anything  that 
does  not  rest  on  scripture  warrant  either  in  precept 
or  example.  Hence,  we  cannot  practice  anything 
that  rests  solely  on  uninspired  history.  But  history 
may  greatly  help  us  to  understand  the  teaching  of 
scriptures.  This  use  of  history  is  not  always  properly 
understood.  We  may  very  reasonably  conclude 
that  our  Savior  meant  in  the  commission  what  the 
Apostles  taught  and  practiced,  as  recorded  in  Acts 
of  Apostles.  So  we  may  also  reasonably  conclude 
that  that  interpretation  of  the  teaching  and  practice 
of  the  Apostles  is  correct,  which  accords  with  what 
history  informs  us  was  the  practice  of  the  church 
immediately  after  the  days  of  the  Apostles.  Now 


STATEMENT. 


S3 


our  interpretation  of  the  scriptures  is  that  we  have 
divine  warrant  for  the  weekly  observance  of  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Does  post- apostolic  practice  confirm 
this  interpretation  ?  We  believe  that  it  does  most 
amply  and  fully. 

In  the  year  110,  the  Emperor  Trojan  sent  the 
younger  Pliny  to  govern  Bithynia  and  Pontus. 
Pliny  found  many  Christians  in  his  province.  They 
were  brought  before  him  for  trial,  and  he  questioned 
them  and  made  dilligent  search  as  to  their  practices. 
He  was  perplexed  to  know  what  to  do,  and  finally 
wrote  the  Emperor,  giving  an  account  of  the  practices 
of  the  Christians,  and  asking  for  advice.  This  is  what 
he  says  of  their  practices :  "  They  were  accustomed, 
on  a  stated  day,  to  meet  together  before  day,  to  sing  a 
hymn  to  Christ  in  concert,  as  to  a  God,  and  to  bind 
themselves  by  a  sacrament  not  to  do  anything  that 
was  evil,  but  on  the  contrary  to  abstain  from  theft, 
robbery  and  adultery,  also  never  to  violate  their 
promise,  nor  deny  a  pledge  committed  to  them." 
From  this  letter  of  Pliny  we  learn,  1st.  That  the 
early  Christians  met  on  a  stated  day.  It  was  not  a 
hap-hazzard  meeting  that  they  practiced,  but  a 
stated  meeting  and  that  must  have  been  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week — could  not  have  been  on  any  other 
day.  2d.  "When  they  met  on  that  day  they  bound 
themselves  by  a  sacrament,  and  that  must  have 
been  the  Lord's  Supper.  As  often  as  that  day  came 
around,  just  that  often  they  attended  to,  what  Pliny 
calls,  a  sacrament.  The  disciples  perhaps,  would 
not  have  called  it  by  that  name,  for  sacrament 


34 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


means  an  oath  in  the  Latin  language,  but  as  it  was 
observed  somewhat  like  the  Romans  took  their  oaths, 
Pliny  called  it  by  that  name,  so  that  the  Emperor 
might  understand  him,  though  it  is  not  conceivable 
that  the  Christians  coupled  oaths  of  any  kind  with 
the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  or  any  other  of 
their  observances.  Such  is  the  testimony  of  a 
heathen  writer  to  the  practice  of  the  early  church. 
Now  let  us  examine  the  testimony  of  those  Chris- 
tians themselves  as  to  their  practice  in  this  respect. 

I  want  to  call  special  attention  to  the  testimony  of 
Justin  Martyr  already  referred  to.    He  was  born  not 
later  than  103  and  not  earlier  that  98— the  precise  time 
cannot  be  determined.  His  place  of  birth  was  the  city 
of  Flavia  Neapolis,  the  ancient  Sichem  in  Samaria. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  learning  and  a  very  candid 
Christian.     He   traveled  extensively  among  the 
churches,  and  finally  settled  in  Rome,  where  he  be- 
came a  Christian  teacher,  and  paid  for  his  fidelity  to 
Christ  by  suffering  martyrdom  in  the  year  165.  On 
account  of  the  persecutions  that  were  constantly 
waged  against  the  Christians,  Justin  was  stirred  up  to 
offer  an  apology  for  them.    This  he  addressed  to  the 
Emperor  Antonius  Pius,  his  adopted  sons,  and  the 
Senate  and  people  of  Rome,  and  it  could  not  have  been 
written,  according  to  Neander,  later  than  the  year  139. 
He  is  careful  to  state  the  practices  of  a*ll  Christians 
both  in  the  towns  and  the  country.  He  had,  as  before 
stated,  traveled  extensively  among  them  and  knew 
tfceir  customs.    The  following  is  what  he  says  as  to 
their  order  of  public  worship :  "  On  the  day  called 


STATEMENT. 


86 


(by  the  Romans)  Sunday,  all  Christians  that  live 
either  in  towns  or  in  the  country,  meet  together,  and 
the  memoirs  of  the  Apostles,  or  the  writings  of  the 
prophets  are  read,  as  time  permits.  When  the  reader 
has  finished,  the  person  presiding  instructs  the  peo- 
ple in  an  address,  and  exhorts  them  to  imitate  the 
excellent  things  they  have  heard.  Then  we  all  join 
in  prayer,  and  after  that  we  celebrate  the  sacrament. 
Then  they  who  are  able  and  willing,  give  what  they 
think  proper." — Apol.  1,  C.  67. 

We  have  now  before  us  the  testimony  of  the 
younger  Pliny  and  of  Justin  Martyr — one  written  in 
the  year  110,  and  the  other  in  the  year  139.  Pliny 
says  that  the  Christians  of  Bithynia  met  on  a 
stated  day  and  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
Justin  informs  us  that  that  stated  day  was  the 
day  called  by  the  Romans,  Sunday,  and  that  all 
Christians  followed  this  practice.  Who  can  doubt 
in  the  light  of  these  historic  testimonies,  that  our 
interpretation  of  Acts  20:7,  is  correct.  We  feel 
perfectly  confident  that  the  apostolic  church  met  on 
the  first  day  of  each  week  to  break  bread.* 

As  a  confirmation  of  our  views  on  the  weekly 
observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  I  want  to  present 
testimonies  from  a  few  of  the  able  and  candid  schol- 
ars among  the  Protestant  denominations  with  which 
we  are  surrounded.    The  American  Tract  Society 

"The  recently  discovered  manuscript  entitled  Teaching  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles,  written  no  doubt  some  time  in  the  second  century,  bears  this  tes- 
timony as  to  the  Lord's  Supper  being  a  part  of  the  regular  observance  of  the 
Lord's  day:  "Coming  together  on  the  Lord's  day,  break  bread  and  give 
thanks,  confessing  your  transgressions  that  your  sacrifice  may  be  pure."  So 
able  a  journal  as  the  Congregationalist  says  that  this  document  confirms  the 
custom  among  the  Disciples  of  breaking  bread  on  the  first  day  of  every  week 


86 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


published  a  book  by  the  distinguished  Jonathan 
Edwards,  entitled :  Thoughts  on  the  Revival  of 
Religion.  Here  is  what  he  says  on  page  435  as  to 
the  weekly  observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper:  "It 
seems  plain  by  the  scriptures,  that  the  primitive 
Christians  were  wont  to  celebrate  their  memorial  of 
the  sufferings  of  their  dear  Redeemer  every  Lord's 
day,  and  so  I  believe  it  will  be  again  in  the  Church 
of  Christ,  in  the  days  that  are  approaching."  Such 
is  the  testimony  of  the  renowaed  author  of  the  cele- 
brated treatise  on  the  Human  Will. 

I  have  lying  before  me,  as  I  write,  a  work  written 
by  a  distinguished  Scotch  surgeon,  the  late  John 
Mair,  M.  D.,  of  Edinburgh,  extraordinary  member 
of  the  Royal  Medical  Society  of  Edinburgh;  Staff 
Surgeon  First-Class,  to  her  Britannic  Majesty's 
Army.  The  work  is  entitled  "  Biblical  Temperance." 
The  treatment  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  incidental, 
but  is  nevertheless  clear  and  satisfactory.  Here  is 
what  he  says  on  page  162,  as  to  the  observance  of 
this  institution:  "May  not  the  Lord's  Supper  be 
justly  considered  as  a  most  important  part  of  the 
Lord's  day?  Are  they  not  both  sacred  institutions 
of  King  Jesus  ?  Is  it  possible  that  the  Lord's  day 
can  be  duly  observed,  while  the  Lord's  Supper  is 
neglected  or  desecrated  ?  The  common  day  would 
be  incomplete  without  its  chief  meal.  The  body 
would  become  enfeebled  for  want  of  sufficient  nour- 
ishment; and  so  must  the  Lord's  day  be  incomplete, 
and  the  soul  of  the  Christian  languish  and  wax 
faint,  if  it  be  not  accompanied  by  the  Lord's  Supper. 


STATEMENT. 


37 


If  we  neglect  to  break  bread  and  drink  the  cup  of 
blessing  every  returning  Lord's  day,  in  remembrance 
of  his  death,  how  can  we  suitably  meditate  on  his 
resurrection?"  Dr.  Mair  was  a  Presbyterian  and 
eminent  not  only  as  a  surgeon,  but  as  a  devout 
Christian. 

Not  long  since  I  had  put  into  my  hands  a  treatise 
on  the  Lord's  Supper,  by  James  Ingles,  a  preacher 
among  the  Plymouth  Brethren.  Among  other  things 
he  says :  "  The  true  ground  on  which  we  advocate 
the  weekly  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  not 
our  own  conclusions  as  to  the  fitness  and  advantages 
of  the  practice,  clear  as  they  may  seem ;  but  the 
will  of  the  Lord,  as  that  is  gathered  from  the.  prac- 
tice of  the  church  while  it  was  under  the  guidance 
of  the  inspired  apostles."  Then  follow  the  scrip- 
tural arguments  in  favor  of  keeping  this  institution 
as  a  part  of  the  stated  worship  on  the  Lord's  day. 

Scott,  in  his  commentary,  has  this  observation  on 
Act  20 :7.  "  Breaking  of  bread,  as  commemorating 
the  death  of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist,  was  one  chief 
end  of  their  assembling.  This  ordinance  seems  con- 
stantly to  have  been  observed  every  Lord's  day,  and 
probably  no  professed  Christians  absented  them- 
selves after  they  had  been  admitted  into  the  church, 
unless  they  lay  under  some  censure,  or  had  some 
real  hinderance."  E.  W.  Hamilton,  L.L.D.,  D.D., 
in  his  work  on  the  "  Christian  Sabbath,"  after  quot- 
ing the  above  passage  from  Dr.  Scott,  proceeds  to 
say:  "Specially  should  this  day  be  given  to  the 
commemorative  feast.    It  was  of  old  called '  the  day 


38 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


of  "bread.*   Unworthy  is  our  regard  to  it,  low  is  our 

state  of  devotion,  if  its  weekly  repetition  could  pall 
It  is  unimaginable  that  the  early  Christians  ever 
assembled,  and  this  was  not  the  art  of  their  highest 
transport.  *  *  *  The  practice  of  the  first 
churches  should  be  revived."  (See  Mair's  Biblical 
Temperance,  pp.  163,  164).  John  Wesley,  the  foun- 
der of  Methodism,  published  among  other  sermons 
one  entitled  "  The  Duty  of  Constant  Communion.'-* 
Of  this  sermon  he  says :  "  This  discourse  was  writ- 
ten above  five  and  fifty  years  ago,  for  the  use  of  my 
pupils  at  Oxford.  I  thank  God  I  have  not  yet  seen 
cause  to  alter  my  sentiments  in  any  point  which  is 
therein  delivered."  Much  as  I  would  .like  to  quote 
liberally  from  this  sermon,  but  one  extract  is  all  that 
my  space  Avill  allow  me  to  give,  which  is  as  follows: 
"  Let  every  one,  therefore,  who  has  either  any  desire 
to  please  God,  or  any  love  of  his  own  soul,  obey 
God  and  consult  the  good  of  his  own  soul,  by  com- 
municating every  time  he  can  ;  like  the  first  Christ- 
ians, with  whom  the  Christian  sacrifice  was  a  con- 
stant part  of  the  Lord's  days  service."  (Sermon  106, 
Yol.  LT,  p.  350).  Wesley  writing  to  the  elders  in  the 
Methodist  church  in  America  in  1784,  says :  "  I  also 
advise  the  elders  to  administer  the  Supper  of  the 
Lord  on  every  Lord's  day." 

These  quotations  must  suffice,  though  they  could 
be  largely  increased.  The  testimony  of  Eusebius, 
"the  father  of  Church  History,"  Dr.  John  L.  Mos- 
heim,  the  distinguished  German  Church  Historian, 
John  Calvin,  John  Mil  ion  and  hundreds  of  others 


■ 


STATEMENT.  ijy 

could  "be  given,  all  of  whom  testify  that  the  primi- 
tive church  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper  on  every 
Lord's  day.  Dr.  John  Mason  of  New  York  in  his 
letters  on  "  Frequent  Communion,"  when  arguing  for 
its  weekly  observance,  says :  "iVor,  will  this  be  de- 
nied by  any  man  who  has  candidly  investigated 
the  subject?''  This  voices  the  scholars  of  all  denomi- 
nations who  have  given  this  subject  attention.  Could 
we  be  loyal  to  our  plea  of  a  return  to  primitive 
Christianity,  nay,  could  we  be  loyal  to  Christ,  un- 
less we  attended  to  the  Lord's  Supper  on  every 
Lord's  day? 

VI.  Believing,  as  we  do,  that  the  Bible  is  a  per- 
fect guide,  we  speak  where  it  speaks,  and  we  are  silent 
whei-e  it  is  silent.  If  for  instance  people  ask  what 
they  must  do  to  be  saved,  we  give  them  the  answers 
found  in  the  Bible,  feeling  perfectly  sure  that  we  are 
right.  We  find  under  the  labors  of  the  inspired 
apostles  that  penitent  sinners  on  the  profession  of 
their  faith  in  Christ  were  immediately  baptized  for 
the  remission  of  their  sins,  and  were  received  into 
the  church  without  delay.  We  claim  that  it  should 
be  so  done  now,  and  such  is  our  practice.  Charles  G 
Finney,  the  noted  revivalist,  said  that  the  anxious 
seat  now  occupies  the  place  that  baptism  occupied 
in  the  primitive  church.  If  this  is  so,  as  it  no  doubt 
in  some  sense  is,  then  away  with  the  anxious 
seat,  and  let  baptism  take  its  place  where  it  was  in 
the  perfect  church.  We  have  endured  much  opposi- 
tion because  we  have  taught  baptism  for  the  remis- 
sion of  sins.    There  is  no  reasonable  excuse  for  this 


40 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


opposition.  Did  not  Jesus  say :  "  He  that  "believeth 
and  is  baptised  shall  be  saved,  and  he  that  believeth 
not  shall  be  damned."  And  did  not  Peter  say  on  the 
day  of  pentecost:  "Repent  and  be  baptized  every 
one  of  you,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the 
remmission  of  sins,  and  you. shall  receive  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost."  Dr.  Hackett  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent of  Baptist  scholars  in  his  commentary  on  Acts, 
translates  and  comments  as  follows  on  this  passage: 
"JSis  aphesin  liamartioon,  in  order  to  the  remission 
of  sins  (Matt.  26 : 28 ;  Luke  3 : 3),  we  connect  natur- 
ally with  both  the  preceding  verbs.  This  clause 
states  the  motive  or  object  which  should  induce  them 
to  repent  and  be  baptized.  It  enforces  the  entire 
exhortation,  not  one  part  of  it  to  the  exclusion  ot 
the  other."  This  is  our  position  exactly.  Baptism 
without  faith  and  repentance  is  of  no  value  what- 
ever. Should  any  one  trust  to  the  mere  opus  opera- 
turn  of  baptism  for  regeneration  he  will  be  sadly 
disappointed.  Only  when  the  heart  is  changed  by 
a  living  faith  in  Christ  and  the  will  subdued  by  re- 
pentance can  baptism  be  of  any  value.  Then  it  is 
an  humble  recognition  of  the  authority  of  Christ  and 
is  coupled  with  the  remission  of  sins  just  as  faith 
and  repentance  are.  Much  of  the  opposition  that 
has  been  hurled  against  us  for  our  views  of  the  de- 
sign of  baptism  has  grown  out  of  a  misconception 
of  our  position  on  this  subject.  Many  have  sup- 
posed that  we  hold  to  the  doctrine  of  baptismal 
regeneration — that  we  believe  in  some  efficacy  in  the 
water — or  some  "sacramental  grace"  as  some  ex- 


STATEMENT. 


41 


press  it.  Such  conceptions  are  foreign  to  our  views 
and  there  is  no  excuse  for  such  ignorance.  Alexan- 
der Campbell  said  in  his  debate  with  N.  L.  Rice : 
"  You  may  have  heard  me  say  here,  (and  the  whole 
country  may  have  read  it  and  heard  it  many  a  time)? 
that  a  seven-fold  immersion  in  the  river  Jordan,  or 
any  other  water,  without  a  previous  change  of  heart, 
will  avail  nothing — without  a  genuine  faith  and 
penitence.  Nor  would  the  most  strict  conformity  to 
all  the  forms  and  usages  of  the  most  perfect  church 
order;  the  most  exact  observance  of  all  the  ordi- 
nances, without  personal  faith,  piety,  and  moral 
righteousness — without  a  new  heart,  hallowed  lips, 
and  a  holy  life,  profit  a  man  in  reference  to  eternal 
salvation."  (Campbell  and  Rice  Debate,  p.  678.) 
These  are  our  views  and  hundred  of  similar  extracts 
could  be  given  from  the  writings  of  our  leading  men 
in  all  parts  of  the  land.  Hence  to  represent  us  other- 
wise is  willful  ignorance. 

But  whatever  may  be  our  theories,  we  should  give 
to  inquiring  sinners  the  answers  found  in  God's 
word  given  on  similar  occasions,  and  let  our  theories 
go  to  the  moles  and  bats. 

Since  the  anxious  seat  or  mourner's  bench,  as  com- 
monly used,  is  confessedly  a  modem  innovation,  and 
has  supplanted  a  divine  ordinance,  we  cannot  join 
with  many  well  meaning  people  in  the  use  they  make 
of  it.  We  believe  in  praying  for  sinners,  and  should 
not  object  to  praying  for  them  even  at  the  mourn- 
er's bench,  if  allowed  to  have  our  own  way.  But  we 
cannot  ask  God  to  do  for  the  sinner  at  the  mourner's 


42 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


bench  what  he  has  promised  to  do  for  him  through 

one  of  his  own  appointments.  God's  way  mnst  be 
the  best — the  only  right  way. 

This  principle  now  under  consideration  leads  ns  to 
set  aside  all  human  expedients  that  infringe  on  the 
divine  economy  as  revealed  in  the  Bible.  A  proba- 
tion, whether  for  six  months  or  any  other  length  of 
time,  for  those  who  have  accepted  Christ  with  all 
their  hearts,  before  they  are  received  into  the  church, 
is  a  thing  unknown  to  the  New  Testament.  Penitent 
sinners  were  immediately  baptized  and  received  into 
the  church  in  the  apostolic  age.  We  doubt  not  but 
a  departure  from  this  ancient  order  of  things  origina- 
ted in  a  good  motive,  but  very  many  serious  depart- 
ures have  arisen  in  that  way.  Human  judgment, 
even  when  sanctified  by  the  grace  of  God,  is  too  frail 
to  depend  upon  when  the  salvation  of  the  soul  is  con- 
cerned. "We  need  our  pathway  lighted  by  the  infal- 
lible guidance  of  the  word  of  God. 

Again,  faithfulness  in  following  the  practices  of  the 
primitive  church  leads  us  to  reject  all  innovations  in 
the  government  of  the  church.  In  the  apostolic  age 
each  local  church  or  congregation  had  a  plurality 
of  elders  and  deacons.  (See  Phil.  1:1.)  Elders  and 
bishops  were  the  same.  The  elders  of  the  church  at 
Ephesus  were  called  bishops.  (See  Acts  20 : 17  and  28.) 
There  is  no  controversy  among  scholars  as  to  the  fact 
that  the  distinction  between  elders  and  bishops  arose 
subsequent  to  New  Testament  times.  (See  Neander's 
Church  History,  vol.  i,  p.  190 ;  also  his  Planting  and 
Training  of  the  Christian  Church,  p.  148.)  It  may  be 


STATEMENT. 


43 


claimed  that  this  is  a  trivial  matter,  and  no  harm  can 
come  of  it.  Not  so ;  for  the  Pope  of  Rome  is  an 
over-grown  elder  or  hishop.  There  is  no  safety  but 
to  leave  things  as  God  gave  them  to  us.  "  What  God 
has  joined  together  let  no  man  pat  asunder,"  is  true 
of  other  things  as  well  as  the  marriage  relation. 
With  us  elders  and  bishops  are  the  same  and  there 
is  a  plurality  of  them,  as  well  as  of  deacons,  in  each 
local  congregation,  unless  in  some  new  and  weak 
churches  where  there  are  not  enough  qualified 
persons  to  fill  these  offices.  We  have  taken  our 
stand  squarely  on  New  Testament  ground  in  this, 
as  well  as  all  other  matters.  We  know  that  our 
position  is  a  safe  one,  and  it  gives  us  great  comfort 
to  know  that  such  is  the  case. 

Again,  "we  call  Bible  things  by  Bible  names.''1 
This  we  ought  to  do  if  we  have  gone  back  to  the 
ancient  order  of  things.  As  an  instance  of  this 
practice,  we  never  call  the  first  day  of  the  week  the 
Sabbath.  Why?  Because  it  is  never  so  called  in 
the  Bible,  nor  for  centuries  after  the  New  Testament 
was  written.  The  custom  of  styling  the  Lord's  day 
the  Sabbath  was  not  known  in  the  times  of  the 
Fathers,  and  not  till  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury did  the  practice  come  into  general  use.  Surely 
if  Jesus  and  the  Apostles  and  the  primitive  Fathers 
never  so  designated  the  first  day  of  the  week,  there 
must  have  been  good  reason  for  such  a  course, 
whether  we  know  that  reason  or  not.  It  is  safe  to 
walk  in  the  footsteps  of  Christ  and  His  apostles.  For 
the  same  reason  we  never  call  breaking  bread  or  at- 


44 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


tending  to  the  Lord's  Supper  "  taking  the  sacrament." 
Such  expressions  are  "  Ashdodic  "  and  are  used  with- 
out "being  understood  or  convey  a  wrong  meaning. 
In  either  case  their  use  should  be  discontinued. 

I  have  now  given  a  brief  outline  of  the  principles 
and  object  of  our  movement.  Focalized,  the  whole 
movement  is  this :  We  take  Christianity  as  it  came 
from  the  hands  of  Christ  and  His  apostles  and 
reject  whatever  bears  not  this  stamp.  We  claim 
to  have  restored  the  primitive  church.  We  are  not 
therefore  a  sect,  unless  the  New  Testament  church 
was  a  sect,  and  this  no  one  will  claim.  Here  then  is 
a  basis  of  union  broad  enough  for  all  God's  children 
and  we  plead  with  them  to  come  and  unite  with  us 
and  help  in  this  work.  If  it  should  be  said  that  it 
is  arrogance  in  us  to  claim  to  be  wiser  than  others 
in  knowing  what  is  the  apostolic  church  and  its  prac- 
tices, our  reply  is,  we  do  not  lay  any  claim  to  such 
superior  wisdom.  I  have  endeavored  in  this  state- 
ment of  our  principles  and  object,  not  only  to  state 
our  positions,  but  to  show  what  the  scholarship  of 
the  world  has  to  say  on  these  things.  Is  there  any 
doubt  among  Protestants  as  to  the  all-sufficiency  of 
the  scriptures  as  a  rule  of  faith  and  practice?  None. 
Is  there  any  doubt  as  to  the  names  borne  by  the 
children  of  God  in  New  Testament  times?  None. 
What  do  the  leading  scholars  of  the  world  say  as  to 
our  manner  of  baptizing  and  our  rejection  of  infant 
baptism?  They  say  we  are  right,  that  is,  that  we 
practice  as  the  primitive  church  did.  What  about  our 
weekly  observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper?    We  are 


8TATEMENT. 


right,  if  historians  and  scholars  can  be  depended  on. 
And  so  on  in  all  we  do  and  teach. 

And  now  in  conclusion,  I  know  there  are  many 
pious  and  faithful  Christians  among  the  denomina- 
tions with  whom  we  are  surrounded.  We  love  them 
for  their  earnest  devotion  to  the  Savior.  "We  pray 
God  that  we  may  all  be  united  in  one  fold.  But  till 
then  we  say,  brethren,  understand  us  before  you  con- 
demn.  Strike,  but  heajr. 


N.  A.  MoCOKNELL. 


HE  subject  of  this  sketch,  Nelson  Antnm  McCoanell, 
deserves  a  more  extended  notice  than  is  usual  in  a 
work  of  this  kind. 

Born  January  23,  1824,  in  Columbiana  County,  Ohio. 
Received  a  very  limited  education  in  the  common 
schools,  having  attended  such  about  eighteen  months, 
before  he  was  thirteen  years  old.  His  father  intended 
him  for  a  merchant  and  apprenticed  him  to  that  business, 
March,  1837.  He  served  five  years  in  that  capacity,  and  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  abandoned  it  and  learned  the  carpenter  and 
joiner's  trade,  at  which  he  spent  seven  years. 

During  those  twelve  years  he  spent  four  months  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  studying  English  grammar  and  natural  philoso- 
phy. His  parents  were  members  of  the  Friends  (Quakers)  at 
the  time  of  his  birth,  and  hence  he  had  a  birthright  with  them, 
and  was  regarded  as  a  member  in  good  standing  until  in  his 
seventeenth  year. 

In  November,  1839,  John  Henry  and  Marcus  Bosworth,  (both 
deceased)  of  Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  held  a  meeting  at  East 
Fairfield,  Ohio,  which  he  attended.  During  its  progress  the  wild, 
thoughtless  and  somewhat  reckless  boy  was  siezedwith  convic- 
tion, and  led  to  enquire,  "What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  And  on 
the  last  evening  of  the  meeting  he,  in  company  with  several 
others, went  forward  and  confessed  the  Savior.  It  was  a  great 
surprise  to  all  who  knew  him,  especially  to  his  parents,  who  were 
exceedingly  mad  against  that  way.  which  they  called  "Campbell- 
ism."  Some  busy  body  ran  to  the  village  and  informed  his  father 
that  the  baptism  of  his  boy  was  about  to  occur,  whereupon  he 


48 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


immediately  started  for  the  scene  of  action.  He  overtook  the 
crowd  on  their  way  to  the  creek  called  Bradfi eld's  Run,  in 
which  the  Disciples  were  wont  to  baptize,  and  laying  his  hand 
on  the  shonlder  of  the  lad,  bade  him  stop,  which  he  reluctantly 
did  ;  and  after  some  conversation  returned  to  the  village  with- 
out obeying  the  Lord. 

In  just  five  weeks  from  that  time,  another  meeting  was  held 
at  the  same  place,  by  John  Henry  and  E.  Vanvoorhis,  now  of 
Knox  County,  Ohio.  On  the  last  night  of  which  at  9  p.  m.  ,  De- 
cember 12th,  1839,  Elder  Vanvoorhis  immersed  him  into  the 
name  of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit. 

In  a  short  time  he  began  exercising  in  the  congregation,  and 
in  a  young  men's  prayer  meeting  which  he  was  instrumental  in 
organizing.  His  former  "church,"  in  about  seven  months  after 
his  "apostacy,"  disposed  of  his  case  as  follows  : 

"Whereas,  Nelson  A.  McConnell  has  much  neglected  the  at- 
tendance of  our  religious  meetings,  has  not  observed  plainness 
in  dress,  and  has  been  immersed  in  water  for  baptism :  and 
having  been  treated  with  on  these  accounts,  without  the  de- 
sired effect,  we  therefore  disown  him  from  membership  in  the 
religious  Society  of  Friends,  until  he  shall  consistently  regain 
the  same,  which  is  our  earnest  desire  for  him. 

Signed  in,  and  in  behalf  of  the  Carmal  Monthly  Meeting. 
This— day  of  seventh  month,  1840.      Nathan  Holb,  Clerk." 

In  1844  he  became  acquainted  with  the  venerable  James  E. 
Gaston,  now  of  DesMoines,  who  was  then  living  in  the  village  of 
Fairfield,  Ohio  and  preaching  for  the  church  at  that  place.  This 
man  of  God  took  a  deep  interest  in  him,  and  encouraged  him 
to  use  what  talent  he  had,  and  prepare  for  the  ministry.  And 
but  for  his  example,  advice  and  encouragement,  Bro.  McConnell 
would  probably  never  have  been  a  preacher. 

On  the  10th  day  of  July,  1845,  he  was  married  to  Sarah  Ann 
Brisbine  by  Elder  Gaston,  taking  as  a  fee  therefor  (by  his  own 
proposition)  a  sermon  which  McConnell  had  preached  at  one 
of  Elder  Gaston's  appointments  six  months  previously. 

He  entered  the  regular  ministry  October,  184S,  walking  through 
a  heavy  rain,  and  preaching  in  Elder  G.  Pow's  kitchen  I  He 
spent  a  year  with  eight  churches  in  the  county  where  he  had 
always  lived. 


JS.  A.  M'OONNELL. 


49 


In  November,  1849,  he  came  to  Iowa,  landing  at  Davenport, 
whither  he  had  been  called  by  a  co-operation  of  churches  and 
scattered  disciples,  to  evangelize  what  was  then  known  as  the 
Second  District,  bounded  by  the  Maquoketa,  Iowa  and  Missis- 
sippi Rivers.  His  first  sermon  was  at  LeClaire  in  Scott  County ; 
and  from  thence  he  pushed  out  into  the  district,  laboring  hard 
and  receiving  therefor  the  sum  of  $300  for  one  year. 

In  November.  1850,  he  settled  at  Marion,  Linn  County,  and 
has  preached  for  the  church  there  more  or  less,  ever  since;  but 
he  ministered  regularly  for  them  seventeen  years. 

By  the  State  Meeting  at  Mt.  Pleasant  in  1856,  he  was  appointed 
State  Evangelist,  the  first  the  State  ever  had,  and  served  one 
year.  In  1863  he  was  again  appointed  to  the  same  position,  which 
he  continued  three  years.  In  1866  he  removed  to  Marshalltown 
and  labored  for  the  Marshall  and  Hardin  churches. 

In  November,  1871,  he  returned  to  Marion,  remaining  there  till 
1875,  when  he  went  to  Cedar  Rapids,  and  after  a  residence  of  five 
years,  again  removed  to  Marshalltown,  where  he  now  resides. 

Like  all  pioneer  preachers,  Bro.  McConnell,  though  a  man  of 
peace,  has  crossed  blades  with  the  foes  of  primitive  Christianity. 
In  1851  he  was  invited  to  defend  our  plea,  assailed  by  a  Congre- 
gational minister  in  Marion.  Dr.  Roberts,  the  challenger,  was 
reputed  quite  a  scholar  in  the  languages.  On  the  first  day  he 
made  a  display  of  his  Greek.  But  McConnell  replied  that  Rob- 
erts had  the  advantage,  as  he  did  not  know  a  letter  in  the  Greek. 
Whereupon  Roberts  severely  rebuking  him  said:  "If  the  gen- 
tleman had  spent  ten  minutes  a  day  since  he  has  been  in 
Marion,  studying  Greek,  he  could  have  read  it  as  well  as  I." 
When  the  debate  opened  the  next  day,  Bro.  McConnell  said: 
"I  have  spent  ten  minutes  this  morning  in  the  study  of  Greek, 
as  suggested  by  my  friend,  and  am  prepared  to  answer  all  Greek 
yet  presented."  He  then  rattled  off  a  few  Greek  words,  which 
so  completely  nonplussed  his  opponent  that  he  was  glad  to 
play  quits. 

He  has  had  several  debates  since.  Two  with  the  Tunkers,  one 
of  which  was  reported  and  published.  Three  with  Sabbatari- 
ans, one  with  the  Wesley  an  Methodists,  and  one  with  an 
Infidel. 

His  labors  for  the  thirty-four  and  a  half  years  have  been 
almost  exclusively  in  Iowa,  though  he  has  temporarily  visited 
4 


60 


TKE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


and  praacfcfcd  ia  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Kansas,  Missouri 
and  Arkansas.  He  was  at  one  time  connected  with  the  Evan- 
gelist  published  in  this  State  ;  has  ever  been  connected  with  the 
Educational  and  Missionary  enterprises  of  the  church,  and  has 
been  ever  intrusted  with  the  most  important  positions  in  them, 
such  as  Trustee  of  College,  State  Evangelist,  President  of  the 
State  Convention,  and  of  the  Ministerial  Association,  which 
position  he  holds  at  this  time. 

As  an  able  and  uncompromising  defender  of  the  truth,  none 
surpasses  him.  He  has  ever  been  characterized  by  independ- 
ence, firmness,  and  courage  to  utter  his  convictions  regardless 
of  consequences  from  men.  Is  possessed  of  fine  physique,  com- 
manding appearance;  keen  black  eyes  that  flash  fire  when 
aroused ;  a  strong,  logical  inquiring  mind,  and  great  power  as  a 
speaker  His  sermons  are  compact,  logical,  and  severely  scrip- 
tural Weighing  about  190  pounds,  and  standing  six  feet  m 
height,  with  a  well  proportioned  body  and  a  bald  head,  he  at 
once  impresses  you  that  he  possesses  superior  ability. 

He  is  the  only  living  representative  of  our  "pioneer  preach- 
ers "  yet  actively  at  work,  among  whom  were  such  men  as 
Aaron  Chatterton,  Arthur  Miller,  Jonas  Hartzel  and  Levi  Flem- 
mins  who  have  gone  to  their  reward.  Bro.  Martindale  still 
lives  but  is  not  able  to  preach.  And  with  the  exception  of 
him  Bro.  McConnell  is  left  alone  to  represent  the  grand  men 
whose  labors  have  wrought  such  glorious  results. 

Although  having  seen  hard  service,  his  native  force  seems 
unabated  and  bis  resources  inexhaustible^ 


CONDITIONS  OF  DIVINE  SONSHD?. 


N".  A.  M'COISTNELL. 


He  came  to  his  own  and  his  own  received  him  not.  But  as 
many  as  received  him.  to  them  gave  he  po.ver  to  become  the 
sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  his  name:  which 
were  born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the 
will  of  man,  but  of  God. — John  1:11. 

0  be  a  son  of  God  in  the  sense  of  the  text, 
is  to  sustain  the  grandest  relation  possible  to 
man — a  relation  not  enjoyed  by  angels  :  for 
unto  no  one  of  the  angels  did  God  ever  say, 
"  Thou  art  my  son.'''  To  be  a  son  of  God 
is  to  be  an  heir  of  God  and  a  joint  heir  with  Christ, 
to  an  estate  vast,  boundless,  unfading,  inexhaust- 
ible, eternal. 

This  relation  is  contingent  and  can  be  reached  by 
the  children  of  men  only  by  meeting  the  conditions 
as  set  forth  in  the  Father's  will,  ratified  by  the 
death  of  His  only  begotten  son. 

These  conditions  can  be  met  when  understood.* 
They  are  not  well  understood  by  the  masses,  however 
clearly  they  are  taught  in  the  holy  scripture.  Hence 
the  propriety,  if  not  necessity  of  the  proposed  dis- 
cussion. 

61 


52 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


In  entering  upon  the  investigation  of  the  subject 
indicated,  viz:  "Conditions  of  Divine  Son  ship,"  in 
the  light  of  the  text  quoted,  I  enquire, 

1st.  Of  whom  are  the  words  of  the  text  predicated  ? 
The  answer  is  found  in  the  context. 

"  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  word 
was  with  God,  and  the  word  was  God.  The  same 
was  in  the  beginning  with  God.  All  things  were 
made  by  Him :  and  without  Him  was  not  anything 
made  that  was  made.  In  Him  was  life,  and  the  life 
was  the  light  of  men.  *  *  *  That  was  the  true 
light  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world.  *  *  And  the  word  was  made  flesh  and 
dwelt  among  us  (and  we  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory 
as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father)  full  of  grace, 
of  truth."— John  1:14. 

These  things  are  affirmed  of  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth," 
"  The  Son  of  Mary,"  "  The  Son  of  David  according 
to  the  flesh,  but  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  ac- 
cording to  the  spirit  of  holiness  by  his  resurrection 
from  the  dead." 

2d.  To  whom  came  he  ? 

(a)  To  the  Jewish  people  who  were  his  own :  be- 
cause he  was  an  Israelite,  a  son  of  Abram.  To  them 
he  icame  first  and  in  person. 

(5)  To  the  Samaritan  he  came  secondly.  They 
too  were  his  own :  for  although  they  were  a  separate 
prople  from  the  Jews,  they  were  largely  descended 
from  the  twelve  tribes  and  recognized  the  God  of 
Moses. 

(c)  Thirdly,  to  the  world  at  large. 


CONDITIONS  OF  DIVINE  SONSHIP. 


53 


"  All  souls  are  mine.  As  the  soul  of  the  father,  so 
also  the  soul  of  the  son."  And  as  a  heathen  poet, 
endorsed  by  an  apostle  said,  "For  we  are, also 
his  offspring." 

"  This  is  a  faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all  accep- 
tation that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners."— I  Ti.  1:15.  "He  gave  himself  a  ransom 
for  all,"  and  "By  the  grace  of  God  He  tasted  death 
for  eveey  man"  (Heb.  2 : 9).  And  so,  "  If  He  died  for 
all,"  (  2  Cor.  5: 14).  And  thus  He  broke  down  the 
middle  wall  of  partition  between  us,  i.  e.,  between 
Jew  and  Gentile.  But  He  has  come  to  the  race,  not 
in  person,  but  in  the  gospel,  saying,  "  Go  teach  all 
nations."  "  Go  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature  in 
all  the  world."  "  That  repentance  and  remission  of 
sins  should  be  preached  among  all  nations,  etc." 

3d.  Did  His  own  or  those  to  whom  He  came 
receive  Him  ?  No.  Those  to  whom  He  appeared 
personally,  said,  "  Let  Him  be  crucified."  Both  Jews 
and  Samaritans  as  a  whole,  rejected  Him.  There 
were  some  noble  exceptions  during  His  personal 
ministry,  even  among  the  Jews  and  Samaritans. 

The  Gentiles  also  failed  to  recognize  Him  as  the 
Son  of  God.  They  persecuted  His  representatives 
and  put  His  followers  to  death.  Kings  and  govern- 
ers  unsheathed  the  sword  and  crucified  the  Lord  of 
all  glory  in  the  person  of  His  disciples.  Even  at 
this  present  time  thousands  to  whom  He  comes  in 
the  gospel,  fail  to  receive  Him.  It  is  very  true,  there- 
fore, "  That  He  came  to  His  own  and  His  own  received 
Him  not." 


54 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


4th.  What  did  He— what  does  He  "besides  coming? 

Answer.  He  made  sons  of  God.  To  some  "  He  gave 
power,  authority,  or  privilege  to  become  sons  of  God." 

Some  have  taken  the  position  that  this  language 
does  not  imply  actual  sonship,  hut  only  a  privilege  to 
he  embraced  in  order  to  sonship.  To  my  mind  there 
is  no  force  in  this  criticism.  I  assume,  and  to  me  it 
seems  perfectly  clear,  that  the  language  involves 
actual  sonship. 

Abbot  in  his  notes  on  the  revised  New  Testament 
says.  "  Made  them  sons  of  God."  Matthew  Henry 
in  a  note  on  the  place  says,  "It is  the  unspeakable 
privilege  of  all  good  Christians  that  they  are  become 
the  children  of  God." 

I  take  it  therefore  that  those  who  are  described  in 
the  text  were  made  sons,  and  all  who  shall  hereafter 
fill  this  description  will  be  constituted  children  of 
God. 

5th.    Had  He  authority  to  make  men  sons  of  God  ? 

If  there  be  an  authority  to  do  this,  then  He  had  and 
still  has  that  authority.  Said  He.  "  All  authority  in 
heaven  and  in  earth  is  given  unto  me  "  (Matt.  28 : 18). 
"  I  came  not  to  do  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  Him 
that  sent  me.-'  The  works  that  I  do,  I  do  not  of  my- 
self, but  the  Father  that  sent  me,  He  doeth  the  works. 
And  the  Father  said,  "  This  is  my  Son,  the  beloved 
in  whom  I  am  well  pleased,  hear  ye  Him." 

6th.  To  whom  did  He  give  power  to  become  the 
sons  of  God  ?  Or.  whom  did  He  make  children  of  God  f 

The  text  answers  this  question  and  states  the  con- 
dition upon  which  all  are  made  the  children  of  God. 


CONDITIONS  OF  DIVINE  SONSHIP.  55 


"But  to  as  many  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave 
He  power  to  become  sons  of  God."  "As  many  as 
received  Him."  Whoever  then,  or  at  any  time  since, 
or  shall  hereafter  receive  Him,  was  or  shall  he  made 
a  child  of  God.  And  so  John  says  of  such,  "  Beloved 
now  are  we  the  sons  of  God  "  (1  John  3  :  2),  and  Paul 
says,  "  Because  ye  are  the  sons  of  God,  God  hath  sent 
forth  the  spirit  of  His  Son  into  your  hearts  crying, 
Abha,  Father,  Blessed  privilege  and  rich  in  bless- 
ings. 

7th.  But  who  are  said  to  have  received  Him  ? 

Answer.  "JEJven  them  that  believe  on  His  name." 

Hence  all  who  believe  on  His  name,  within  the 
meaning  of  the  text,  are  made  sons  or  children  of 
God.  Are  adopted  into  the  divine  family — have  di- 
vine sonship,  and  so  it  is  written  "Ye  are  all  the 
children  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus. 

All  the  conditions  of  sonship  are  involved  in  receiv- 
ing Christ  and  all  those  who  "believe  on  His  name" 
receive  Him  and  hence  are  made  children  of  God. 

8th.  Who  do  believe  on  His  (Christ's)  name  ? 

Answer.  Those  "  who  were  born  not  of  blood,  nor  of 
the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God." 

This  language  describes  those  who  believe  on  the 
name  of  Christ,  and  such,  and  only  such  as  are  here 
described,  do  believe  on  "  His  name,"  and  those  be- 
lieving on  His  name,  receive  Him,  and  only  such  as 
receive  Him  are  made  children  of  God. 

This  description  involves  a  birth.  What  is  that 
birth?  1st.  Negatively.  It  is  not  to  be  "born  of 
blood."   It  was  the  pride  and  boast  of  the  Jews  that 


56 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


they  had  the  blood  of  Abraham  in  their  veins.  "  "We 
are  Abraham's  seed  and  were  never  in  bondage  to 
any  man.  How  sayest  thou  ye  shall  be  made  free?" 
Christ  replied,  "If  Abraham  were  your  father,  ye 
would  do  the  work  of  Abraham."  Then  they  said, 
"  We  have  one  father,  even  God."  To  this  Jesus  re- 
plied, "If  God  were  your  father,  you  would  love  me : 
for  I  came  forth  from  Him  and  He  sent  me."  "  You 
are  of  your  father  the  devil." 

"While  it  may  be  true  that  "blood  icill  tell"  it  is 
absolutely  certain  that  nationality  does  not  entitle 
men  to  "Divine  sonship."  Other  people  boast  of 
their  nationality  and  claim  rights,  privileges,  and 
immunities,  even  in  the  church,  upon  this  ground. 
All  State  religions  recognize  the  birth  of  blood.  But 
the  text  says  "Born  not  of  blood."  This  is  laying 
the  ax  at  the  root  of  the  tree  of  law  established 
churches.  No  man  is  recognized  as  "  Believing  on 
His  name  "  because  of  his  nationality. 

"  Nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh."  This  is  simply 
natural  generation.  Every  man  is  born  of  the  will 
of  the  flesh,  but  he  is  not  entitled  to  membership  in 
the  divine  family  thereby.  Natural  generation  does 
not  make  us  sons  of  God.  Natural  generation  from 
believing  parents  is  by  some  made  the  ground  of 
infant  church  membership.  The  church  is  composed 
of  the  children  of  God,  hence  it  is  claimed  that  "The 
children  of  believing  parents  are  in  covenant  relation 
with  God  and  therefore  graciously  entitled  to  bap- 
tism." "  Nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,"  lays  the  ax  at 
the  root  of  the  tree  of  infant  church  membership,  and 
it  must  f  alL 


CONDITIONS  OF  DIVINE  SONSHIP.  57 


"  Nor  of  the  will  of  man."  The  Jews  were  tena- 
cious of  the  traditions  of  the  elders,  and  found  fault 
with  Christ  "because  His  disciples  transgressed  them. 
He  replied,  "  You  have  made  void  the  commandments 
(the  will)  of  God  by  your  traditions,  and  teach  for 
doctrines  the  commandments  of  men." 

They  claimed  acceptance  with  God  because  they 
strictly  observed  the  traditions  of  men,  but  this  was 
no  more  than  to  be  born  of  the  will  of  man. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  there  ap- 
peared a  man  by  the  name  of  Mohammed,  who 
became  the  author  of  a  new  religion,  now  embodied 
in  the  Alchoran.  Whoever  embraces  that  system  is, 
in  a  religious  sense,  "  born  of  the  will  of  man :  "  for 
as  a  religion  or  system  of  salvation,  it  is  man-made. 
It  is  the  will  of  man  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  God. 
Not  those  born  of  the  will  of  man  are  made  sons  of 
God. 

In  1830  Joseph  Smith  and  Sydney  Rigdon  inaugur- 
ated the  Mormon  religion,  founded  upon  the  Book  of 
Mormon.  This  book  was  manufactured  out  of  a 
manuscript  written  by  a  Mr.  Spaulding  and  entitled 
"  manuscript  found"  stolen  from  a  printing  office  in 
the  city  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  by  Rigdon,  who  was  a 
renegade  from  the  Baptists  and  Disciples. 

Those  who  embrace  the  Mormon  faith  are  "  born  of 
the  will  of  man,"  but  are  not,  as  a  consequence, 
"sons  of  God." 

"  Nor  of  the  will  of  man"  is  the  ax  laid  against 
human  tradition  and  man-made  systems :  "But"  now 
affirmatively,  'lborn  of  God."  It  is  now  clear  to  every 


58 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


one  that  those,  and  only  those,  who  are  horn  of  God, 
helieve  on  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  those 
and  only  those  who  believe  on  His  name  receive  Him, 
and  those  who  receive  Him  are  constituted  sons  or 
children  of  God. 

There  is  now  simply  one  question  to  he  answered 
and  then  the  conditions  of  divine  sonsliip  will  he  set- 
tled, viz :  What  is  it  to  he  horn  of  God?  What  are 
the  agencies,  instrumentalities,  and  means  by  which 
this  birth  is  affected?  Or,  in  other  words,  What  is 
involved  in  this  birth  of  God  ? 

To  make  this  clear  and  certain,  I  will  collate  all  the 
passages  that  speak  directly  of  this  subject,  and 
learn  eveiything  mentioned  as  pertaining  to  or  invol- 
ved in  being  "  Born  of  God." 

First.  I  read  (James  1 : 18)  "  Of  His  "—God's  — 
"  own  will  begat  he  us  with  the  word  of  truth."  This 
shows  that  God  is  the  author— the  prime  factor. 

Second.  (1  Cor.  4 : 15)  "  For  though  you  have  ten 
thousand  instructors  in  Christ,  yet  have  ye  not  many 
fathers :  for  in  Christ  I  have  begotten  you  through 
the  gospel."  And  (Philemon  10)  Paul  says  of  Ones- 
imus,  "whom  I  have  begotten  in  my  bonds."  Here 
the  Apostles  are  introduced  as  agents  in  effecting 
the  work. 

Third.  (John  3:5)  "Except  a  man  be  born  of  the 
Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 
This  passage  gives  the  Holy  Spirit  as  an  agent,  with- 
out whose  work  we  cannot  become  sons  of  God. 

Fourth.  (1  Peter  1 : 23)  "  Being  born  again,  not  of 
corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of 


CONDITIONS  OF  DIVINE  SONSHIP.  59 

God  which  lives  and  abides  forever.  *  *  And  this 
is  the  word  which  by  the  gospel  is  preached  unto 
you."  This  furnishes  us  the  instrument — the  seed — 
employed  in  the  birth. 

Fifth.  (1  John  5:1)'*  Whosoever  believes  that  Jesus 
is  the  Christ,  is  born  of  God."  Here  faith  is  men- 
tioned as  in  some  way  connected  with  or  involved  in 
the  birth. 

Sixth.  (1  John  4:7)  *  *  "Love  is  of  God,  and 
every  one  that  loveth  is  born  of  God."  Love  has 
some  place  in  the  birth  by  which  we  are  made  sons 
of  God.  Those  who  do  not  receive  the  love  of  the 
truth  will  be  damned. — 2  Thess.  2 : 10. 

Seventh.  (John  3:5)"  Verily  I  say  unto  thee,  ex- 
cept a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  can- 
not enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  Here  baptism 
is  said  to  have  something  to  do  in  accomplishing  the 
birth,  or  making  us  sons  of  God.  I  say  baptism,  for 
all  agree  that  baptism  is  meant. 

These  seven  things  are  mentioned  as  in  some  way 
related  to,  "  Being  born  of  God."  Besides  I  know  of 
none  other.  The  order  in  which  these  are  related  to 
each  other  and  being  "  Born  of  God,"  is  the  following, 
viz:  1st.  God  purposed.  2d.  Sent  the  Holy  Spirit  who 
inspired  the  Apostles.  3d.  The  Apostles  preached 
the  gospel  with  the  Holy  Spirit  sent  down  from 
heaven.  4th.  The  word — the  seed  that  quickens — 
the  gospel  heard  is  now  present  in  the  heart  where 
it  works  effectually,  and  5th.  Produces  faith,  or  the 
belief  "  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ."    6tk.  The  faith 


60 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


thus  begotten  inspires  love  for  the  truth,  and  he  who 
loves  the  truth  will  obey  it.  Or,  7th.  "  Be  baptized," 
and  thus  be  born  of  water. 

Thus  were  men  born  of  God.  Thus  are  men  now 
born  of  God,  and  being  bom  of  God,  are  recognized 
as  believing  on  His  name.  And  as  many  as  believe 
on  His  name  receive  Him,  and  those  who  receive  Him 
are  made  the  sons  of  God. 

"And  because  sons,  God  hath  sent  the  Spirit  of  His 
Son  into  their  hearts,  crying,  Father,  Father."  "  Be- 
hold what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed 
upon  us,  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons  of  God. 
Beloved  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God  and  it  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  but  we  know  that  when 
He  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  Him  for  we  shall 
see  Him  as  He  is.  And  every  one  that  hath  this 
hope  in  bim,  purifieth  himself  even  as  he  is  pure." — 
Amen. 


G.  T.  CARPENTER. 


GEORGE  THOMAS  CARPENTER 


HE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  well  known  as  an  able 
preacher,  educator  and  writer.  He  was  born  March 
4,  1834,  in  Nelson  Co.,  Ky.,  of  Germ  an -English  parent- 
age. His  father  was  a  brother  of  Judge  Samuel  Car- 
penter, of  Bardstown,  Ky.,  and  his  mother  a  relative 
of  the  lamented  Abraham  Lincoln.  Ere  George  was 
born  his  father  died,  leaving  quite  an  estate,  which 
was  afterwards  fraudulently  wrested  from  the  heirs. 

After  a  widowhood  of  seven  years,  his  mother  married  Mr. 
J.  W.  HufFaker,  of  Bureau  Co.,  Ills.,  where  George  grew  to 
manhood,  amid  the  privations  and  hardships  common  to  a 
new  country.  But  by  dint  of  industry  and  perseverance, 
which  have  characterized  his  whole  life,  together  with  strictly 
moral  habits  and  manly  traits,  he  made  commendable  progress 
in  whatever  studies  he  had  opportunity  to  pursue.  He  receiv- 
ed a  preparatory  course  of  instruction  in  the  Princeton  Acad- 
emy, then  in  charge  of  Prof.  James  Smith,  an  able  teacher, 
and  a  deacon  in  the  celebrated  Owen  Lovejoy's  church.  While 
in  this  school  he  supported  himself,  mainly  by  labors  of 
various  kinds.  He  boarded  the  entire  time  with  a  Mrs.  Wood, 
doing  chores  for  her,  and  remembers  to  have  sawed  fifteen 
cords  of  wood  for  Mr.  Lovejoy's  church.  His  own  struggles  in 
preparing  himself  for  usefulness,  intensifies  his  sympathies 
with  young  men  in  like  circumstances  now.  But  he  has  no 
patience  with  lazy,  aimless  and  dissipated  youth.  With  him 
the  sweat  of  honest  toil  is  more  honorable  than  the  glitter  of 
inherited  wealth. 

After  leaving  the  Academy  he  taught  a  few  terms  with  mark- 
ed success,  first  in  Iowa,  then  in  his  home  district  school :  when 

61 


62 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


he  determined  to  enter  college.  He  matriculated  in  Abingdon 
College  in  1855,  where,  as  in  the  Academy,  he  made  good  use  of 
his  t'me,  had  but  one  boarding  place,  and  graduated  in  1859. 
Shortly  afterward  he  took  charge  of  the  Academy  at  Winterset, 
Iowa,  teaching  and  preaching  there  for  nearly  two  years.* 

In  September,  1861,  he  and  his  brother,  J.  W.,  now  of  College 
City,  Cal.,  opened  the  school  in  Oskaloosa  College,  umler  cir- 
cumstances that  would  have  appalled  less  determined  spirits. 
In  a  building  only  partially  inclosed,  inconveniently  situated, 
and  heavily  burdened  with  debt,  these  two  young  men  opened 
school  with  five  students.  In  the  face  of  such  an  undertaking, 
the  strong  hopefulness  and  heroic  faith  of  such  men,  need  not 
be  written.  To  them  are  due,  the  subsequent  respectability 
and  usefulness  of  the  institution.  At  Oskaloosa  he  labored  as 
teacher,  preacher  and  editor  for  twenty  years.  In  1873  he  re- 
tired from  the  College,  and,  as  he  then  supposed,  from  an  active 
educational  life,  that  he  might  give  his  time  to  the  Evangelist, 
of  which  he  had  become  chief  editor.  But  after  three  years, 
at  the  urgent  request  of  the  Board,  Teachers  and  friends  of  the 
College,  he  reluctantly  returned,  and  took  the  position  of  Pres- 
ident. The  school  grew  in  numbers,  harmony  and  influence, 
excepting  the  financial  condition,  for  which,  of  course,  the 
faculty  were  in  no  way  responsible,  until  three  of  the  teachers 
declared  themselves  "starved  out." 

At  this  juncture  the  project  of  establishing  a  Christian  Uni- 
versity at  Des  Moines  was  hopefully  inaugurated.  And  after 
careful  and  prayerful  consideration,  President  Carpenter  and 
the  other  members  of  the  faculty,  felt  it  their  duty  to  identify 
themselves  with  the  movement.  This  course  was  approved  by 
a  very  large  majority  of  the  brethren  of  the  State.  And  the 
fact  that  a  majority  of  the  students,  with  all  the  faculty,  but 
one,  followed  him,  gave  assurance  at  once  of  the  popularity  of 
the  enterprise,  and  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  had  long 
had  a  fervent  desire  to  see  a  strong  church  school  in  Iowa,  and 
looks  upon  Drake  University,  in  the  founding,  organizing  and 
building  up  of  which  he  has  performed  so  conspicious  a  part, 
as  the  great  work  of  his  life. 

His  religious  life  began  in  December,  1854,  when  he  was  baptiz- 
ed by  Elder  Daniel  Parkinson.  Having  previously  begun  the 
study  of  law,  and  possessing  some  gifts  as  a  speaker,  he  was 


GEORGE  THOMAS  CARPENTER. 


63 


urged  to  exercise  them  in  the  church.  This  led  to  the  aband- 
onment of  the  law,  and  a  resolution  to  engage  in  the  work  of 
the  ministry.  Hence,  July  3,  1859,  he  was  set  apart  to  this 
work,  President  P.  H.  Murphy,  Prof.  J.  W.  Butler  and  others 
of  the  Abingdon  church  officiating. 

From  that  time  to  the  present,  while  not  exclusively  confined 
to  the  ministry,  he  has  been  a  successful  proclaimer  of  the 
Word.  He  has  held  several  fruitful  revival  meetings,  though 
his  labors  have  been  mostly  confined  to  Lord's  days,  and  ad- 
dresses during  his  travels. 

He  has  also  held  a  number  of  debates  with  Infidels,  Uni- 
versalists,  and  others,  with  credit  to  himself,  satisfaction  to 
his  brethren,  and  damage  to.  error.  No  where  do  his  powers 
appear  to  better  advantage  than  in  discussion.  One  debate 
was  held  with  W.  F.Jamison,  Spiritualist,  at  Oskaloosa,in  1871, 
lasting  six  days.  Soon  after,  the  gist  of  his  arguments  was 
published  in  a  little  book,  entitled  "  The  Bible  vs.  Spiritual- 
ism," which  was  eagerly  sought,  and  became  a  sort  of  text 
book  among  debaters  with  Spiritualists.  His  latest  debate 
was  with  John  Hughes,  the  champion  of  Universalism  in  the 
West.  It  was  reported,  and  published  by  the  Ceir*  ral  Book  Con- 
cern, and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  debates  extant,  in- 
volving the  subject  in  dispute. 

He  was  married  June  21, 1863,  to  Henrietta  T.  Drake,  daughter 
of  Judge  J.  A.  Drake,  of  Drakeville,  Iowa,  who  has  been  to 
him  a  true,  loving,  Christian  wife,  and  a  sharer  of  all  his  labors 
and  cares.  They  have  one  son  and  three  daughters.  Few 
Iowa  preachers  are  strangers  to  the  cordial  hospitalities  of 
their  home. 

He  has  held  positions  of  trust  and  honor  in  religious,  fra- 
ternal, educational,  municipal  and  national  affairs.  In  1873, 
he  was  appointed  an  honorary  United  States  Commissioner 
to  the  World's  Fair  at  Vienna,  Austria.  During  that  sum- 
mer he  made  an  extended  tour  through  Europe ;  sketches 
of  which  appeared  in  twenty-six  articles,  published  in  the 
Evangelist.  He  has  since  frequently  lectured  on  his  travels  and 
observations. 

He  has  long  been  a  radical  Prohibitionist,  and  in  1879  was 
nominated  by  the  Prohibition  Convention  at  Cedar  Rapids,  for 
Governor  of  the  State.  But  as  other  duties  forbade  his  making 


84 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


a  proper  canvass,  he  declined  the  honor,  and  by  his  suggestion 
the  Central  Committee  substituted  the  name  of  D.  R.  Dungan. 

In  personal  appearance,  Chancellor  Carpenter  is  of  medium 
size,  well  formed,  and  his  once  raven  locks  are  now  almost 
white,  or  giving  place  to  baldness.  In  disposition,  he  is  com- 
panionable, and  liberal  almost  to  a  fault.  As  a  preacher,  he  is 
clear,  logical  and  forcible,  and  withal  possessing  some  gifts  of 
oratory  and  pathos. 

In  mental  traits  and  habits,  common  sense  and  energy, 
rather  than  abstract  profundity  and  abnormal  brilliancy, 
seem  to  lead.  In  short,  he  may  be  said  to  be  a  well-rounded, 
all-sided  man,  who  can  readily  turn  his  energies  into  any  call- 
ing that  promises  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  men — a 
man  earnestly  striving  to  live  under  the  approval  of  God. 


THINGS  TO  BE  HEEDED 


G.  T.  CARPENTER. 


"  Therefore  we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  the 
things  that  were  heard  lest  haply  we  drift  away  from  them."— 
Heb.2:l. 

|AUL  is  the  prince  of  logicians.  He  that 
would  understand  him  must  note  the  rela- 
tions of  his  introductions,  propositions, 

f arguments  and  conclusions.  It  is  rightly 
conceded  that  the  Hebrew  Letter  is  a 
Pauline  epistle.  Hence  to  understand  it  or  any 
part  of  it,  we  must  study  it  as  a  strictly  logical  pro- 
duction. This  letter  was  to  the  Hebrews ;  and  yet 
its  writer  was  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  But 
his  consistency  in  this  is  apparent  when  it  is  re- 
membered that  here,  as  in  most  of  his  writings,  he 
vindicates  the  rights  of  the  Gentiles  to  all  the  bless- 
ings of  the  gospel  without  any  observance  of  the 
law,  and  thus  defeats  the  heresy  of  the  Judaizing 
teachers  then  so  common.  To  do  this  he  shows  that 
the  law  was  national,  temporary,  and  insufficient 
for  eternal  salvation.    Hence  the  close  student  of 

Paul's  writings  would  readily  anticipate  that  the 
5  65 


66 


TI13S  IOWA  PULPIT. 


burden  of  this  epistle  is  to  show  to  the  Jews  the  all- 
sufficiency  of  the  gospel,  and  that  the  law,  having 
served  its  purposes,  had  become  dead. 

Our  text  is  introduced  by  the  word  "  therefore, " 
a  term  that  is  used  to  introduce  a  conclusion  drawn 
from  a  former  argument.  Whether  such  conclusion, 
in  any  given  case,  is  final  or  only  subordinate,  must 
depend  upon  the  argument  from  which  it  is  deduced. 
In  the  case  before  us,  it  will  be  observed  that  it  in- 
troduces a  conclusion  drawn  from  the  first  of  a  series 
of  arguments  designed  to  establish  the  supremacy 
and  sufficiency  of  Christ  and  his  institutions.  A 
brief  analysis  of  the  entire  letter  will  render  this"" 
statement  more  apparent. 

In  the  first  four  verses  of  the  epistle,  the  apostle 
presents  a  most  direct  and  sublime  introduction,  in 
which  is  couched  the  grand  general  proposition 
thought  to  be  proven.  The  apostle  assumes  that 
God  had  spoken  to  the  Jewish  fathers  at  various 
times  and  in  different  ways  through  prophets ;  but 
he  further  affirms  that  "in  these  last  days  he  has 
spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son. " '  This  announcement 
is  followed  by  a  declaration  concerning  the  exalted 
character  and  mission  of  this  Heir  of  all  things, 
Law-giver  and  Priest,  the  one,  the  only  one,  whose 
law  is  henceforth  to  be  heeded,  and  whose  media- 
tion is  worthy  of  being  sought.  This  supremacy  of 
Christ  over  everything  relating  to  the  old  covenant 
must  be  proven  in  reference  to  its  several  important 
particulars.  This  Paul  proceeds  to  do  in  the  fol- 
lowing propositions  and  proofs: 


THINGS  TO  BE  HEEDED. 


67 


I.  Jesus  Christ  is  superior  to  the  angels  by  whom 
Moses  received  the  law.  Verse  4.  This  proposition 
is  maintained  by  six  distinct  quotations  from  the 
Jewish  scriptures,  showing,  1.  That  Christ  is  a  be- 
gotten son ;  angels  are  not.  2.  Christ  is  to  be  wor- 
shipped ;  angels  are  not.  3.  Christ  holds  the  scep- 
tre ;  angels  are  only  servants.  4.  Christ  has  been 
annointed  above  his  fellows ;  angels  have  not.  5. 
Christ  was  a  creator ;  angels  were  not.  6.  Christ  as 
a  Sovereign  shall  occupy  the  throne  till  all  his  enemies 
are  subdued ;  angels  are  only  the  ministering  servants 
to  the  followers  of  Jesus. 

Having  occupied  the  remainder  of  the  first  chap- 
ter with  this  argument  concerning  the  superiority 
of  Christ  over  the  angels  by  whom  the  law  was 
given,  the  apostle  introduces  the  conclusion  drawn 
from  such  arguments,  by  the  language  of  our  text. 
This  deduction  and  the  admonitions  connected  there- 
with, occupy  the  entire  second  chapter,  which  con- 
cludes with  a  reference  to  Christ's  priesthood. 

II.  At  the  beginning  of  the  third  chapter,  Christ  is 
introduced  in  the  double  office  of  Apostle,  or  one  sent 
as  a  leader  and  law-giver,  and  as  High  Priest.  Moses 
was  the  apostle  to  the  Israelites,  while  Aaron  was 
the  High  priest.  But  Jesus  Christ  combined  both 
offices  within  himself.  (See  also  Zech.  6:13,  and 
I  John  5 :6.)  Then  separating  -the  double  office,  the 
writer  proceeds  to  show  the  superiority  of  Christ 
over  Moses,  the  acknowledged  giver  of  the  law. 
Moses  is  shown  to  have  been  only  a  faithful  servant 
in  the  house  which  God  built  through  the  Word  that 


68 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


became  flesh,  while  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son,  and  heir 
of  all  things.  This  argument  and  its  admonitions  con- 
tinue to  the  close  of  the  third  chapter.  The  fourth 
contains  conclusions  and  deductions,  and  prepares 
the  way  for  the  next  step  in  this  progressive  argu- 
ment. 

m.  Jesus  Christ  is  superior  to  Aaron  and  his 
descendants  as  Priest.  This  is  abundantly  proven 
in  the  fifth  chapter,  and  proper  deductions  are  drawn 
in  the  sixth.  But  in  the  seventh  the  nature  and 
superiority  of  the  Melchisedec  priesthood  to  which 
order  Christ  is  proven  to  belong,  is  clearly  demon- 
strated. A  summary  of  this  argument  is  given 
in  the  eighth  chapter,  concluding  with  the  declara- 
tion that  the  old  covenant  with  all  of  its  priestly  and 
legal  functions  was  decayed,  and  must  give  place 
to  the  new  law  and  priesthood  under  Christ.  "  The 
priesthood  being  changed,  there  was  made  of  neces- 
sity a  change  also  of  the  law. " 

TV.  Having  now  shown  Christ's  superiority  over 
the  angels  by  whom  Moses  received  the  law,  and  over 
Moses  as  a  law-giver,  and  Aaron  as  a  priest,  begin- 
ning with  the  ninth  chapter,  he  undertakes  to  show 
that  the  ordinances  of  the  Jewish  covenant  were  in- 
ferior and  temporary,  while  those  of  the  new  cove- 
nant instituted  by  Christ,  are  better  and  more  en- 
during. This  argument  continues  to  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  verse  of  the  tenth  chapter,  when  a 
most  impressive  conclusion  and  admonition  is  intro- 
duced. The  eleventh  chapter  is  a  grand  exemplifi- 
cation of  the  power  and  perfection  of  faith  as  con- 


THINGS  TO  BE  HEEDED. 


69 


trasted  with  the  ritualistic  works  of  the  law.  The 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  chapters  contain  the  grand 
conclusion  of  the  whole  argument,  with  the  sundry 
admonitions,  exhortations  and  salutations  consistent 
with  the  scope  and  character  of  this  most  wonder- 
fully logical  and  incisive  production. 

With  this  very  brief  and  necessarily  imperfect 
outline  analysis  of  the  Hebrew  Letter  before  us,  it 
is  hoped  that  we  can  more  readily  understand  and 
appreciate  our  text,  which,  it  will  be  remembered,  is 
the  introduction  of  the  conclusion  drawn  from  the 
first  of  the  series  of  sub-arguments,  and  in  which 
the  superiority  of  Christ  over  angels  is  conclusively 
proven.  The  text  and  context  may  be  properly  and 
conveniently  considered  under  the  following  heads : 

I.  The  obligation  enjoined. 

II.  The  things  to  be  heeded. 
HI.  The  reason  for  thus  heeding. 

In  considering  this  peculiar  passage  under  these 
headings,  the  reader  is  earnestly  requested  to  keep 
in  mind  the  relation  of  this  particular  passage  to 
the  general  scope  of  the  entire  argument  or  series  of 
arguments  contained  in  the  entire  letter. 

I.  "  Therefore  " — in  consideration  of  the  argument 
just  concluded — "  we  ought " — we  owe  it — "  to  give  " 
— not  only  heed,  but  "  the  more  earnest  heed "  to 
something.  If  our  obligation  is  thus  strong,  the 
thing  enjoined  must  be  very  important.  The  awful 
solemnity,  imperiousness  and  importance  of  this 
obligation  might  be  readily  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  it  is  related  to  one  superior  to  angels,  and  who 


70 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


made  the  worlds,  who  is  the  image  and  son  of  God ; 

one  who  upholds  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power ; 
and  one  who,  "  when  he  had  by  his  own  sacrifice 
purged  our  sins,  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Majesty  on  high. "  Surely  there  is  wonderful  em- 
phasis in  this  little  word  ougJit,  in  this  connection. 
This  obligation  enjoins,  not  only  the  giving  of  heed, 
but  the  more  earnest  heed. " 

II.  We  next  inquire  what  the  things  are  that  we 
are  thus  enjoined  to  heed  so  earnestly.  The  text 
and  context  give  five  descriptive  tests  to  aid  us  in 
determining  what  is  included,  and  consequently 
what  excluded  from  this  important  injunction.  j. 
The  things  to  be  "more  earnestly  heeded,"  are 
things  that  were  heard,  had  already  been  preached 
to  the  saints.  2.  They  embrace  a  great  salvation 
which  we  are  in  danger  of  neglecting.  3.  These 
things  had  at  "  the  first  been  spoken  through  the 
Lord.  "  4.  They  had  been  confirmed  by  them  that 
had  heard  Jesus.  5.  "  God  had  borne  witness  with 
them,  both  by  signs  and  wonders,  and  by  manifold 
powers,  and  by  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  according  to 
his  own  will. " 

Whatever  religious  ciaim  does  not  come  clearly 
within  these  five  tests,  may  be  rejected  by  us  with 
entire  impunity.  This  rule  would  work  utter  de- 
struction to  modern  creeds  and  all  ideas  of  a  "pro- 
gressive Christianity. "  We  are  not  to  give  earnest 
heed  to  popular  clamor,  demands  of  fashion,  time 
serving  expediences,  stilted  rank,  imperious  wealth, 
©r  any  whim,  convenience  or  doubtful  expedient 


THINGS  TO  BE  IlEED]Si>. 


71 


While  we  are  to  "  be  wise  as  serpents, "  we  must 
not  forget  to  "  be  harmless  as  doves. "  The  glory 
of  God  and  the  welfare  of  others  must  be  the  inspir- 
ing motive,  and  the  gospel  law  the  rule  of  action. 
Affirmatively  considered,  it  is  evident  that  there  are 
something,  to  which  we  should  "give  the  more  ear- 
nest heed,  lest  we  should  glide  away  from  them, " 
"let  them  slip,"  or  "leak  out."  These  are  the 
things  that  began  to  be  spoken  by  Christ  Jesus, 
were  reaffirmed  by  the  apostolic  witnesses,  and  con- 
firmed by  miraculous  demonstrations  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  These  things  embrace  the  elements,  terms, 
and  conditions  of  the  "  great  salvation. "  That  the 
gospel  in  its  transcendant  facts,  uncompromising 
commands  and  glorious  promises,  is  here  intended, 
needs  no  detailed  proof.  This  same  apostle  declares' 
"  I  am  not  a  shamed  of  the  gospel ;  for  it  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth. " 
(Eom.  1 : 16.)  Again,  the  same  writer  says :  "  Now 
I  make  known  unto  you,  brethren,  the  gospel  which 
I  preached  unto  you,  which  also  ye  received,  wherein 
also  ye  stand,  by  which  also  ye  are  saved,  if  ye 
hold  fast  what  I  preached  unto  you,  except  ye  be- 
lieved in  vain. »  (1  Cor.  15  : 1,  2.)  Then  follows  a 
narration  of  the  three  great  and  fundamental  facts 
underlying  the  gospel,  namely  the  death,  burial  and 
resurrection  of  Christ.  Indeed  Paul,  in  common 
with  all  the  apostles,  was  laboring  under  that  great 
commission  of  the  Savior:  "Go  into  aU  the  world 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  the  whole  creation.  He 
that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved,  but 


72 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


he  that  believeth  not  shall  he  condemned.  "  (Mark 
16:16.)  The  apostle  not  only  knew  the  tendency 
and  danger  of  the  early  Christians  being  gradually 
lead  away  from  the  simplicity,  fullness  and  absolute 
authority  of  the  gospel,  by  the  teachers  that  then 
beset  the  church,  but  he  also  doubtless  foresaw  the 
tendencies  of  later  times  to  apostasies  by  adulter- 
ations with  Judaism,  heathen  mythology  and  idol- 
atry and  gnostic  and  agnostic  philosophies.  For 
centuries  the  tendency  was  to  formulate  these  errors 
into  creeds  that  partially  displaced  the  word  of  God. 
But  more  recently  a  reaction  has  taken  place,  and 
the  dogmatic  creeds  have  nearly  given  place  to  a 
kind  of  attenuated,  emasculated,  and  semi-infidel 
broad-gaugism  or  isms.  These  are  called  "  liberal- 
ism, "  "progressive  Christianity,"  etc..  with  a  mark- 
ed trend  towards  "free  thought,"  "free  action,'* 
"  free  love,  "  blatant,  blasphemous  infidelity.  There 
is  now  little  need  to  wage  an  iconoclastic  war  against 
the  dogmatic  creeds  of  the  past.  These  are  failing 
shattered  and  ruined  all  about  us.  Bather  our  effort 
should  be  to  manfully  maintain  the  divine  creed, 
lest  in  the  opinion  of  the  masses,  it  shall  fall  in  the 
General  and  indiscriminate  assault  upon  all  creeds. 
The  masses  moved  by  an  over-awing  religious  im- 
pulse or  anti-religious  impulse,  are  little  more  likely 
to  discriminate  between  the  real  and  the  fancied, 
the  good  and  the  bad,  than  an  infuriated  mob. 
Cool,  clear  heads,  pure  hearts  and  steady  nerves, 
must  preserve  the  right  by  directing  the  great 
movements  of  the  times.  The  masses,  after  due 
thought,  will  accept  the  right  and  true. 


THINGS  TO  BE  HEEDED. 


73 


"We  are  no  alarmist,  but  undoubtedly  there  is 
great  immediate  danger  of  the  church's  gliding 
away  from  the  simple  truth  of  the  gospel.  Let  the 
engineers  of  the  gospel  train  put  on  breaks  ;  let  the 
commander  of  the  army  of  the  faithful  call  a  halt, 
not  in  good  works,  but  in  the  mad  rush  from  the 
true  path.  Like  the  prophet  restorer  of  Israel,  let 
there  be  an  exhortation  to  "  ask  for  the  old  paths, 
where  is  the  good  way,  and  walk  therein. "  These 
old  paths  are  not  the  ones  worn  by  human  tradition, 
but  those  clearly  traced  by  Christ  and  his  apostles. 
They  are  the  gospel  paths  that  lead  to  the  everlast- 
ing city  of  God. 

Among  the  things  fundamental  and  necessary  to 
be  heeded  and  maintained,  may  be  mentioned :  1. 
The  absolute  personal  being  and  authority  of  God. 
2.  That  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father,  who  "was  bom  of  the  seed  of  David  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh,  but  who  was  declared  to  be  the  Son 
of  God  with  power  according  to  the  spirit  of  holi- 
ness, by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead."  Christ  is 
the  Jmmanuel,  the  God  with  us,  with  one  human  and 
one  divine  parent.  That  "  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God,"  is,  after  all,  the  creed  truth 
of  the  Bible,  and  the  thought  must  not  be  expur- 
gated from  it,  nor  the  truth  and  confession  elimi- 
nated from  the  Christian  formulas.  No  "  higher " 
(lower)  "  criticism  "  or  modern  platitudes  and  doubt, 
can  take  away  this  central  proposition,  dependent 
upon  which  is  the  whole  Christian  system.  Chris- 
tianity  stands  or  falls  with  the  proposition.  3. 


74 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Nearly  allied  to  the  last  proposition  stands  the  di- 
vine inspiration,  all-sufficiency  and  absolute  author- 
ity of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  "  The  Bible,  the  whole 
Bible,  and  nothing  but  the  Bible,  is  the  religion  of 
Protestants. "  By  this  it  was  not  meant  that  the 
Bible  was  intended,  except  by  general  principles, 
to  provide  for  every  contingency  and  expediency 
that  may  arise  in  the  varied  relations  of  life.  But 
in  everything  relating  to"  Christian  doctrine  and  or- 
dinance it  is  all  sufficient  and  imperative.  4.  The 
alien  sinner  must  believe  upon  Christ  as  the  Son  of 
God,  he  must  repent,  and  he  must  be  baptized  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit.  These 
things  are  clearly  involved  in  the  "  things  that  began 
to  be  spoken  by  the  Lord, "  in  the  gospel.  5.  Chris- 
tians are  the  bight  of  the  world,  the  salt  of  the  earth, 
and  must  keep  themselves  pure,  must  not  "  forsake 
the  assembling  of  themselves  together, "  nor  fail  to 
weekly  commemorate  the  Lord's  death  and  suffer- 
ing. To  use  a  political  term  of  recent  origin,  "  stal- 
wart" Christians  are  demanded.  By  this  is  not 
meant  stubborn,  fossilized  fogies,  who  simply  swing 
upon  the  skirts  of  progress,  and  mistake  their  own 
whims  for  the  gospel,  and  the  traditions  of  the 
fathers  for  infallible  revelation.  Christianity  cannot 
progress,  but  Christians  can  ever  progress  in  knowl- 
edge, holiness  and  labors.  Other  matters  to  be 
heeded  will  readily  suggest  themselves  to  the  Bible 
students. 

LH.  It  is  now  in  order  to  inquire  why  we  should 
"  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  these  things.  "  1. 


THINGS  TO  BE  HEEDED. 


75 


There  is  great  danger  that  we  may  "  let  them  slip, " 
"  lest  we  drift  away  from  them. "  The  danger  is 
not  that  the  well  grounded  Christian  shall  suddenly 
drop,  or  cast  from  him  either  the  doctrine  or  the 
practice  of  his  religion.  A  strong  religious  life  is  a 
growth,  not  an  instantaneous  acquirement.  "We 
come  into  the  Church  of  Christ  as  new  horn  babes  and 
must  feed  upon  the  sincere  milk  of  the  Word,  that 
we  may  grow  thereby.  At  first  we  are  weak  in  faith, 
experience  and  spiritual  power;  but  by  diligent 
study,  prayer  and  works,  we  grow  to  be  strong  in 
the  Lord.  So  the  falling  away  from  Christ  theoretic- 
ally and  practically,  is  a  gradual,  often  almost  im- 
perceptible process.  As  one  stands  and  looks  upon 
the  young  and  rapidly  growing  oak,  yet  perceives 
no  deepening  of  roots,  broadening  of  trunk  or  raising 
of  branches ;  so  in  looking  upon  the  decaying  tree, 
no  present  rottening  is  perceived,  yet  the  work  of 
decay,  though  gradual,  is  certainly  going  on.  In 
either  case  it  is  only  by  comparisons  separated  by 
considerable  lapse  of  time,  that  the  changed  condi- 
tions are  clearly  detected.  So  it  is  with  a  Christian 
both  in  his  growth  and  in  his  apostasy. 

Some  of  the  pre-monitions  of  the  apostasy,  of  this 
letting  slip  our  religion,  may  be  noted :  The  party 
affected  begins  to  sit  farther  back  in  the  audience  ; 
takes  less  part  in  the  prayer-meeting,  Sunday  school 
and  other  church  work;  begins  to  absent  himself 
from  the  meetings  of  the  brethren ;  to  speak  of  the 
church  work  as  what  "they  "are  doing  instead  of 
"  we ; "  finds  fault  with  the  preacher,  the  officers  and 


76 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


the  members ;  is  found  more  and  more  in  the  com- 
pany of  the  scoffers ;  begins  to  speak  lightly  of  the 
Scriptures  and  of  religion ;  grows  in  this  till  he  be- 
comes a  blaspheming  infidel,  denying  the  Lord  that 
bought  him.  Nothing  was  farther  from  his 
thoughts  when  he  began  his  retrograde  movement, 
than  that  he  would  ever  reach  this  depth  of  hopeless 
wretchedness.  Perhaps  when  he  began  to  forsake  the 
assembling  of  the  brethren,  it  was  with  the  delusion 
that  he  would  do  just  as  well  by  staying  at  home 
and  reading  his  Bible ;  and  when  he  left  the  church 
he  thought  he  could  and  would  live  just  as  good  a 
Christian  life  out  of  the  church  as  in  it.  What  a 
delusion !  Little  by  little,  little  by  little,  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Master  and  the  life  predicated  thereon, 
have  slipped  from  him,  leaving  him  in  mental  whirl- 
pools of  doubt,  and  a  moral  wreck.  No  wonder  the 
grand  old  apostle  admonishes  us  to  "  give  the  more 
earnest  heed  to  the  things  we  have  heard,  lest  at 
any  time  we  should  let  them  slip.  " 

2.  As  a  consequence  of  allowing  ourselves  to  drift 
away  from  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  we  shall  certainly 
neglect  and  lose  the  "  great  salvation. "  It  will  be 
noticed  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  formally  spurn  or 
refuse  this  great  salvation,  to  lose  the  great  blessings. 
It  is  enough  simply  to  neglect  it.  The  measure  of 
our  appreciation  of  this  great  salvation  will  depend 
upon  the  estimate  we  place  upon  the  danger  and  the 
certainty  and  importance  of  rescue.  "Salvation" 
pre-supposes  danger  as  "justification"  pre-supposes 
accusing.  A  "  great  salvation  "  pre-supposes  a  great 


THINGS  TO  BE  HEEDED. 


77 


danger.  If,  as  used  to  be  taught  by  some,  man  can- 
not escape  the  punishment  due  to  his  sins  ;  if  there 
is  no  resurrection  of  the  body ;  and  if  there  is  no 
future  hell;  then  wherein  is  the  true  greatness  of 
this  salvation  ?  What  high  incentive  to  give  the  more 
earnest  heed  to  the  terms  of  this  salvation  ?  Simply 
very  little.  But  when  we  recognize  that  man  is  far 
away  from  God  by  transgression,  but  can  be  brought 
nigh  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  and  have  his  sins  all 
blotted  out  and  their  just  punishment  estopped ;  that 
Jesus  told  the  truth  when  he  said,  "I  am  the  resur- 
rection and  the  life  " — that  the  bodies  of  the  saints 
shall  be  gloriously  saved  from  the  grave  by  Jesus 
Christ, and  made  immortal;  that  the  bottomless  pit 
and  the  second  death  yawning  for  the  sin-stricken 
souls  of  the  world,  have  no  power  over  the  obedient 
to  the  words  spoken  by  Jesus,  oh,  how  great  does 
the  salvation  appear ! 

As  the  apostle  approaches  the  grand  conclusion 
of  this  most  extraordinary  letter,  he  says  in  thunder 
tones  of  anxious  warning  to  those  about  to  slide 
from  the  truth :  "  Let  us  hold  fast  the  confession  of 
our  hope  that  it  waver  not,  for  he  is  faithful  that 
promised ;  and  let  us  consider  one  another  to  pro- 
voke unto  love  and  good  works ;  not  forsaking  the 
assembling  of  ourselves  together  as  the  custom  of 
some  is,  but  exhorting  one  another ;  and  so  much 
the  more  as  ye  see  the  day  drawing  nigh.  For  if  ye 
sin  wilfully  after  that  ye  have  received  a  knowledge 
of  the  truth,  there  remaineth  no  more  a  sacrifice  for 
sins,  but  a  certain  expectation  of  judgment,  and  a 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 

fierceness  of  fire  which  shall  devour  the  adversaries. 
A  man 'that  hath  set  at  naught  Moses'  law  dieth 
without  compassion  on  the  word  of  two  or  three  wit- 
nesses •  of  how  much  sorer  punishment  think  ye, 
shall  he  he  thought  worthy,  who  hath  trodden  under 
foot  the  Son  of  God.  and  hath  counted  the  blood  of 
the  covenant  wherewith  he  was  sanctified,  a  common 
rhino-,  and  hath  done  despite  to  the  Spirit  of  Grace. 
For  we  know  him  who  hath  said,  vengeance  telong- 
eth  unto  me.  I  will  recompense.   And  again,  "  The 
Lord  shall  judge  his  people.    It  is  a  fearful  thing 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God.  (Heb. 
10:23-31.) 

It  will  he  observed  that  the  language,  "counting 
the  blood  of  the  covenant  wherewith  he  was  sancti- 
fied a  common  thing,"  etc.,  can  apply  only  to  those 
who  have  been  once  in  a  saved  state.   Before  such 
declarations  the  old  doctrine  of  "once  in  grace  al- 
ways in  grace,"  must  fall.    Men  may  sin  and  be 
foro-iven,  but  those  "who  were  once  enlightened,  and 
having  tasted  of  the  heavenly  gift,  and  were  made 
partakers  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  tasted  the  good 
word  of  God  and  the  powers  of  the  age  to  come, 
and  then  fall  away,  it  is  impossible  to  renew  them 
a^ain  to  repentance;  seeing  they  crucify  to  themselves 
the  Son  of  God  afresh  and  put  him  to  an  open  shame. 
fHeb  •  6-4-6  )  Those  that  so  far  apostatize  as  to  deny 

he  merits  of  the  blood  of  Jesus,  cannot  be  brought 
to  repentance,  hence  cannot  be  saved.  «  There  is  a 
sin  unto  death ;  not  concerning  this  do  I  say  that  he 
should  make  request.    All  unrighteousness  is  sin: 


'iWOS  TO  BE  HEEDED. 


79 


and  there  is  a  sin  not  unto  death"  (1  John  6 : 16, 17.) 
These  sins  are  of  the  same  class  in  effect  as  the  "sin 
against  the  Holy  Spirit  that  shall  not  he  forgiven  in 
this  world  nor  the  world  to  come."  (Matt.  12 : 32.) 
There  remains  a  fearful  looking  forward  to  that  justly 
terrible  retribution.  As  the  fashionable  tippler  does 
not  expect  to  become  a  comfirmed  drunkard,  no  more 
does  the  Christian  just  beginning  his  downward 
course,  expect  to  reach  such  fearful  depths  of  apos- 
tasy. Oh  brother  Christian  be  admonished  "  to  give 
the  more  earnest  heed  to  the  things  that  were  heard 
lest  haply  we  drift  away  from  them."  Heaven 
with  its  eternal,  full  salvation,  is  above  you,  and  the 
words  of  Jesus  are  in  your  hands.  Be  inspired  by 
the  one  and  guided  by  the  other.  Hell  with  its  eter- 
nal torments,  society  of  the  damned,  and  angels 
fallen,  is  below  you,  yawning  to  swallow  you  up. 
The  descent  is  easy,  gradual,  and  seemingly  enti- 
cing. Be  not  deceived.  Keep  your  feet  in  the 
"highway  of  holiness."  Cling  to  the  rock  that 
is  high.  Give  earnest  heed  to  Him  that  spoke  as 
never  man  spoke  ,  and  all  will  be  well.  Amen. 


F.  WALDEN. 


tr  preactjoi  Sias  been  more  prominently  connected  with 
tne  wort  in  Iowa,  than  Freeman  Walden.  Born  in 
tf royct  county,  Indiana,  March  18,  1839.  His  father, 
Dr.  Joseph  Walden,  was  born  and  raised  in  Connecti- 
cut, waere  the  Walden  family  trace  their  ancestry 
back  to  rool.  His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Rhoda 
Sparks,  born  in  Tennessee,  and  raised  in  Indiana. 

Dr.  Walden  removed  to  the  Territory  of  Iowa  in  1846,  and 
settled  in  Mahaska  County,  not  far  from  Oskaloosa.  Here 
Freeman  grew  up  to  manhood.  His  father  dying  when  he  was 
but  fourteen  years  oM,  left  him  to  make  his  way  in  the  world, 
under  the  disadvantages  of  poverty  and  orphanage,  as  best  he 
could.  He  had  the  usual  advantages  of  the  district  schools, 
and  by  improving  them  in  winter,  and  working  by  the  month 
in  summer,  with  economy,  he  was  enabled  to  enter  a  select 
school  in  Oskaloosa,  in  1855,  taught  by  Geo.  W.  Drake. 

By  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Drake,  in  taking  him  into  his  family 
and  boarding  him  for  doing  chores,  etc.,  he  was  enabled  to 
continue  in  the  school  with  limited  means,  nearly  a  year.  He 
then  went  to  work  in  a  saw  mill  to  earn  money  with  which  to 
prosecute  his  studies,  but  meeting  with  a  slight  injury  he  gave 
up  his  place  in  the  mill,  and  by  the  advice  of  Prof.  Drake, 
sought  and  obtained  a  school  when  but  seventeen  years  old. 

He  continued  teaching  and  attending  school  alternately  for 
about  six  years;  his  teacher  for  the  most  part  being  Prof.  A. 
Hull,  now  of  Oskaloosa  College,  to  whom  Bro.  Wafden  feels" 
that  he  owes  more,  for  whatever  mental  training  he  received, 
and  for  his  start  in  the  ministry,  than  to  any  other  man  It 
was  during  this  time,  April,  1859,  that  he  confessed  Christ 


82  THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 

and  was  baptized  by  J.  B.  Noe.    Be  was  influenced  to  cast  his 

lot  among  the  Disciples,  by  hearing  a  discussion  on  the  action, 
subject,  and  design  of  baptism,  between  Aaron  Chatterton, 
Disciple,  and  F.  W.Evans,  Methodist. 

At  the  time  he  united  with  the  church,  he  had  not  the 
remotest  idea  of  preaching,  but  by  being  called  on  by  the 
elders  from  time  to  time  to  exercise  in  the  congregation,  it 
suggested  to  his  mind,  that  he  ought  to  prepare  for  these,  to 
save  himself  from  embarrassment,  and  from  this  he  gradually 
grew  into  a  preacher,  in  less  than  a  year. 

In  the  autumn  of  '61  he  quit  school,  and  in  the  Spring  ol 
'62  began  preaching  for  the  church  at  Albia,  and  teaching  the 
higher  branches  in  a  select  school,  conducted  by  himself  and 

J.  O.  Sellers.  ,  __. 

In  August  of  the  same  year,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary 
Olivia  Berry,  who  has  faithfully  stood  by  him  in  the  work  of 
the  Gospel,  from  that  time  to  this. 

The  double  work  of  preaching  and  teaching  school  proving 
too  great  for  his  physical  strength,  he  abandoned  the  latter 
devoting  his  whole  powers  to  the  ministry.  Hence,  in  the  tall 
of  1863  he  removed  to  Lee  County,  and  preached  for  the 
church  at  Lost  Creek,  till  the  spring  of  1865,  when  he  went  to 
Columbus  City,  and  preached  for  the  church  there  till  autumn, 
1667  During  his  stay  there,  he  preached  and  held  meetings 
at  various  places,  and  was  again  called  to  Albia.  where  he  con- 
tinued six  vears,  adding  about  500  to  the  church  during  that 
time  He  also  held  protracted  meetings  at  several  places,  and 
held  a  public  discussion  with  John  Hughes,  a  Universalist. 

In  1873  he  resigned  at  Albia,  and  accepted  the  position  of 
Financial  Agent  of  Oskaloosa  College,  which  he  held  for  one 
Year  and  then  visited  New  England,  and  spent  two  months  m 
the  employ  of  the  Evangelizing  Board  there.  He  held- meet- 
ings in  Maine,  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts. 

On  his  return,  he  held  a  meeting  at  Steubenville,  Ohio,  and 
was  invited  to  become  pastor  of  the  church  there.  Accepting, 
he  removed  there  in  the  spring  of  1875.  But  the  smoke  of  the 
city,  so  affected  his  throat,  that  he  asked  to  be  released,  and 
returned  to  Iowa.  . 

He  spent  one  year  with  the  church  at  Charles  City,  and  then 
bought  a  fruit  farm  at  Albion,  moved  to  it  January  1,  1877,  and 


F.  WALDEW. 


83 


preached  for  Liscomb,  Bethel,  Bangor  and  Albion  churches 
for  about  four  years,  and  gained  some  notoriety  as  the 
"Strawberry  man." 

Id  1881,  he  moved  to  Illinois,  and  preached  a  year  and  a  half 
for  the  church  at  Old  Bedford,  McDonougb  County,  when,  hav- 
ing sold  his  fruit  farm,  he  was  invited  to  locate  with  the  church 
at  DeSoto,  Iowa,  his  present  field  of  labor. 

He  has  been  Secretary  of  the  State  Convention  quite  often, 
was  a  trustee  of  Oskaloosa  College  twelve  years,  and  is  now  on 
the  Board  of  Drake  University. 

He  has  contributed  to  the  columns  of  the  religious  press 
quite  freely,  and  is  the  author  of  a  tract  on  the  "  Indwelling  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,"  a  pamphlet  on  the  "  Sabbath  Question,"  and 
a  "  Treatise  on  the  Culture  of  Small  Fruits." 

In  personal  appearance  :  fair  complexioned,  blue  eyes,  large 
head,  and  a  little  bald,  about  five  feet  ten  inches  in  height, 
and  weighs  about  160  pounds. 

In  style  as  a  speaker  :  deliberate,  full  rounded  periods,  posi- 
tive, without  flourish,  but  with  force,  his  points  are  put  with 
mphasis.    He  has  rigid  regard  for  accuracy  in  thought,  as 
well  as  in  the  dress  in  which  it  is  to  appear. 

He  bears  acquaintenance,  and  proves  to  be  more  compan- 
ionable and  fraternal  than  you  will  at  first  suppose  him  to  be. 
And  being  ever  ready  to  aid  every  good  work,  he  is  a  most  val- 
uable yoke-fellow  among  the  preachers  of  Iowa. 


WHAT  SAVES  THE  SINNER? 


F.  WALDEH". 


For  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God ;  be- 
ing justified  freely  by  his  grace  through  the  redemption  that  is 
in  Christ  Jesus.   Rom.  3  : 23,  24. 

kJ^HPHAT  all  men  are  sinners  and  need  a  Savioi 
is  taught  both  by  the  Scriptures  and  by  the 
history  of  the  human  race.  History  is  largely 
made  up  of  wars  and  strife.  If  men  were 
not  sinners,  would  they  so  often  stain  their 
hands  in  each  other's  blood?  The  very  language  we 
use  tells  the  sad  story  that  man  is  fallen.  Trench 
has  forcibly  said:  "It  needs  but  to  open  a  dic- 
tionary, and  cast  our  eye  thoughtfully  down  a  few 
columns,  and  we  shall  find  abundant  confirmation 
of  this  sadder  and  sterner  estimate  of  man's  moral 
and  spiritual  condition.  How  else  shall  we  explain 
this  long  catalogue  of  words,  having  all  to  do  with 
sin  or  with  sorrow  or  with  both?  "We  may  be  quite 
sure  that  they  were  not  invented  without  being 
needed,  and  they  each  have  a  correlative  in  the 
world  of  realities.   I  open  the  first  letter  of  the 

85 


86 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


alphabet ;  what  means  this  '  Ah, '  this  '  Alas, '  these 
deep  and  long-drawn  sighs  of  humanity,  which  at 
once  encounter  me  there  ?  And  then  presently  there 
meet  me  such  words  as  these,  '  Affliction, '  '  Agony, ' 
'  Anguish, '  '  Assassin, '  '  Atheist, '  '  Avarice '  and  a 
hundred  more,  words  you  will  observe,  not  laid  up 
in  the  recesses  of  the  language,  to  be  drawn  forth 
at  rare  opportunities,  but  many  of  them  such  as 
must  be  continually  on  the  lips  of  men.  And  in- 
deed, in  the  matter  of  abundance,  it  is  sad  to  note 
how  much  richer  our  vocabularies  are  in  words  that 
set  forth  sins,  than  in  those  that  set  forth  graces. " 
(See  Trench  on  the  Study  of  Words,  lecture  ILT).  We 
are  sinners  all.  Sin  has  stained  our  history  and 
colored  our  language.  We  need  not  dwell  longer 
on  this  picture.    What  is  the  remedy? 

Sin  is  transgression  of  law, — it  is  lawlessness. 
All  laws  have  penalties,  so  sin  brings  on  us  the  pen- 
alty of  God's  violated  law.  How  can  we  escape  that 
penalty?  Some  fallacious  answers  are  given  to  this 
question.  One  of  these  misleading  answers  is  given 
by  the  moralist.  He  practically  says:  "I  know 
that  I  have  sinned,  have  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God  and  have  incurred  the  penalty  of  his  violated 
law,  but  I  don't  see  the  need  of  becoming  a  church 
member,  of  confessing  Christ  and  obeying  him,  but 
I  will  try  from  this  time  on  to  live  a  moral  life  and 
reckon  that  God  will  count  the  good  I  do  as  equal 
to  the  wrong  I  do,  and  thus  square  the  account. " 
Not  a  few  take  about  this  view  of  the  escape  from 
sin :  so  much  goodness  to  balance  so  much  sinning. 


WHAT  SAVES  THE  SINNEB? 


87 


Now  the  fallacy  in  this  is  that  our  own  goodness 
can  in  no  wise  reach  hack  and  remove  the  penalty 
already  incurred.  If  this  is  once  rightly  understood 
no  one  will  depend  on  his  own  morality  to  save  him 
from  his  past  sins.  This  may  be  understood  by  an 
illustration.  Suppose  a  man  steals  a  horse.  The 
penalty  is  incarceration  in  the  penitentiary  for  a 
period  of  one  or  more  years.  Suppose  after  the 
man  has  stolen  the  horse,  he  gets  to  reflecting  about 
the  matter  and  concludes  that  as  "  murder  will  out " 
so  will  horse  stealing  and  that  sooner  or  later  he 
will  be  found  out  and  disgrace  will  come  upon  his 
family.  So  he  quits  and  for  one  year  he  steals 
nothing,  he  strictly  keeps  all  this  time  the  law  he 
had  violated.  But  in  some  way  the  crime  is  found 
out  and  the  man  is  arrested  and  brought  before  the 
court.  What  lawyer  could  be  found  that  would 
ask  the  court  to  dismiss  the  prisoner  on  the  plea 
that  he  had  kept  the  violated  law  for  twelve  months 
since  he  committed  the  crime  ?  The  answer  would 
be  that  it  was  his  duty  to  keep  the  law  if  he  had 
never  violated  it,  and  that  nothing  can  be  carried 
back  to  settle  up  the  old  account.  The  fact  is  that 
the  man  is  just  as  guilty  of  the  crime  of  horse  stealing 
at  the  end  of  one  year  as  he  was  at  the  end  of  one  day, 
and  he  would  be  at  the  end  of  two  years,  five  years, 
ten  years,  any  number  of  years.  Human  govern- 
ments have  statute  limitations  for  some  crimes,  on 
account  of  the  imperfections  of  all  human  arrange- 
ments, but  there  are  no  limitations  of  this  kind  in 
God's  government.   The  man  that  steals  a  horse 


88 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


can  get  rid  of  the  penalty  only  in  one  of  two  ways ; 
one  is  to  suffer  out  the  penalty  and  the  other  is  to 
be  forgiven.  If  he  is  not  forgiven  and  has  not  suf- 
fered out  the  penalty,  then  it  hangs  over  him,  with- 
out statute  limitation,  as  long  as  he  remains  a  sub- 
ject of  that  government  even  should  that  be  forever. 
From  this  illustration  we  can  see  that  i7ie  subsequent 
keeping  of  a  violated  law  does  not  remove  the  pen- 
alty already  incurred.  No  one  would  think  of  de- 
nying this  rule  when  applied  to  human  government, 
then  why  should  we  expect  anything  different  when 
applied  to  the  divine  government  ?  Just  here  is  the 
mistake  of  the  moralist,  he  depends  on  the  keeping  of 
God's  violated  law  to  save  him  from  the  penalty  of 
his  past  sins.  If  he  could  keep  God's  law  perfectly, 
still  there  would  remain  those  past  offences  with 
the  penalty  still  hanging  over  him.  But  he  cannot 
keep  God's  law  perfectly,  no  one  can  do  that  even 
though  he  may  be  a  follower  of  Christ,  so  that  pen- 
alty grows  heavier  all  the  time.  This  makes  the 
outlook  of  the  man  who  depends  on  his  own  worth 
a  hopeless  one.  But  the  moralist  may  ask,  Why 
cannot  my  good  deeds  be  counted  as  an  off-set  to  my 
sins  as  well  as  the  good  deeds  of  a  man  who  is  a  fol- 
•lower  of  Christ?  They  can ;  but  it  is  a  grievous  mis- 
take to  suppose  that  any  man's  good  deeds  remove 
the  penalty  of  sin.  Our  redemption  is  in  Christ  and 
is  freely  bestowed  by  the  grace  of  God  if  we  come 
into  Christ  and  remain  in  him.  Let  us  read  again 
our  text :  "  For  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of 
the  glory  of  God ;  being  justified  freely  by  his  grace 


WHAT  SAVES  THE  SINNEB? 


89 


through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus. " 

Here  we  see  that  our  justification  does  not  rest  on 
the  merit  of  our  good  deeds  whether  many  or  few 
hut  on  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  The 
same  idea  is  in  the  mind  of  the  Apostle  when  in  his 
epistle  to  the  Philippians  he  says  that  he  was  will- 
ing to  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things  that  he  might 
win  Christ  and  be  found  in  him.  not  having  his  own 
righteousness  which  is  of  the  law,  hut  that  which  is 
through  the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteousness  which 
is  of  God  by  faith.  (See  Phil.  3 :  8,  9).  Now  that 
righteousness  which  is  of  the  law,  here  spoken  of  by 
the  Apostle,  must  refer  to  that  righteousness  that 
consists  in  keeping  the  law  which  he  had  violated. 
That  Paul  calls  his  own  righteousness,  just  the  kind 
of  righteousness  that  the  moralist  must  depend  on 
so  longs  as  he  stays  away  from  Christ,  but  it  is  not 
sufficient.  The  Apostle  was  willing  to  suffer  the  loss 
of  all  things  and  count  them  but  refuse  rather  than 
depend  upon  that  righteousness  instead  of  the 
righteousness  of  Christ.  What  the  Apostle  calls  the 
righteousness  of  Christ  in  his  epistle  to  the  Philip- 
pians, he  calls  "the  redemption  that  is  in  Chi  is! 
Jesus  "  in  our  text  in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans.  W 
must  come  to  Christ  if  we  would  have  this  right- 
eousness, this  redemption,  and  not  stay  away  and 
depend  on  our  own  good  deeds  as  the  moralist  is 
wont  to  do. 

Again  we  may  see  the  need  of  coming  to  Christ  if 
we  study  the  context  in  which  our  text  is  found. 
The  church  in  Rome,  we  gather  from  the  body  of 


90 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  was  composed  of  those 
who  had  previously  been  Jews  and  Gentiles.  There 
was  more  or  less  strife  between  these  two  classes 
of  Christians  wherever  they  were  to  be  found. 
Rome  was  no  exception  to  this  state  of  things.  The 
Jew  was  constantly  claiming  that  because  he  had 
been  circumcised  and  had  kept  the  law  of  Moses, 
he  occupied  a  higher  position  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.  He  held  his  Gentile  brother  in  contempt 
and  was  not  willing  to  accept  him  as  an  equal  in 
Christ.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  state  of  tilings 
in  the  church  at  Rome  when  this  epistle  was  written. 
After  the  introduction,  which  comprises  the  first 
seventeen  verses  in  the  first  chapter,  there  is  given 
a  list  of  the  sins  of  the  Gentiles.  This  brings  us  to 
the  close  of  the  first  chapter.  This  list  of  sins  is  a 
fearful  one  and  shows  to  what  depths  of  iniquity  sin 
will  lead  men  when  they  are  "without  God  and 
without  hope  in  the  world."  The  Jew  would  be 
disposed  on  reading  this  much  of  the  epistle  to  say : 
"  This  is  what  we  have  been  claiming  all  the  time, 
that  the  Gentiles  are  sinners  above  all  others  and 
must  not  be  placed  on  an  equality  with  us  in  the  king- 
dom of  Christ.  "  But  he  reads  on  and  he  finds  the 
second  chapter  opening  with  these  words  :  "  There- 
fore thou  are  inexcusable,  0  man,  whosoever  thou 
art  that  judgest. "  This  calls  a  halt  on  his  haste  in 
condemning  the  Gentile.  .  He  reads  on :  "  for  where- 
in thou  judgest  another,  thou  condemnest  thyself; 
for  thou  that  judgest  doest  the  same  things. "  This 
is  discouraging  to  the  boasting  and  condemning 


WHAT  SAVES  THE  SINNER? 


91 


Jew  and  by  the  time  he  has  finished  this  second 
chapter  he  learns  that  though  he  is  a  Jew  and  rests 
in  the  law  and  makes  his  boast  of  God  and  knows 
his  will  and  approves  the  things  that  are  more  ex- 
cellent, being  instructed  out  of  the  law,  yet  this 
turns  out  rather  to  his  grief  than  to  his  joy.  Though 
he  made  his  boast  of  the  law,  yet,  the  Apostle  tells 
him  that  through  the  breaking  of  the  law  he  dis- 
honored God.  Then  he  reads  this  stunning  sen- 
tence: "For  the  name  of  God  is  blasphemed  among 
the  Gentile  through  you.  as  it  is  written.  For  cir- 
cumcision verily  profiteth,  if  thou  keep  the  law ;  but 
if  thou  be  a  breaker  of  the  law,  thy  circumcision  is 
become  uncircumcision.  "  So  the  Jew  is  condemned 
by  the  very  law  in  which  he  boasts  and  his  circum- 
cision is  rendered  null  and  void  by  his  breaking  of 
the  law.  Surely  he  ought  not  to  claim  any  advan- 
tage over  the  Gentile.  The  Jew  is  supposed  to  see 
this  and  ask  in  the  opening  of  the  third  chapter : 
"What  advantage  then  hath  the  Jew,  or  what 
profit  is  there  of  circumcision  ? "  These  questions 
and  several  others  are  answered  by  the  Apostle,  till 
we  come  to  the  ninth  verse  where  the  Jew  in  despair 
asks:  "What  then?  Are  we  better  than  they?" 
The  answer  of  the  Apostle  is  :  "  No,  in  no  wise ;  for 
we  have  before  proved  both  Jews  and  Gentiles  that 
they  are  all  under  sin.  "  Thrn  follows  a  long  list 
of  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament  to  prove  the 
universal  sinfulness  of  the  human  family.  "  There 
is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one. "  The  Jews  have  had 
a  written  law,  and  the  Gentiles  have  had  the  law — 


92 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


some  standard  of  right  and  wrong — written  in  their 
hearts,  yet  the  law  of  right  and  wrong  never  was 
and  never  can  be  a  means  of  justification.  Its  pur- 
pose is  to  make  all  feel  that  they  are  sinners  and 
need  a  redeemer.  Hence,  the  Apo  stle  says :  (Rom. 
3 :  19,  20,)  "  Now  we  know  that  what  things  soever 
the  law  saith,  it  saith  to  them  who  are  under  the 
law ;  that  every  mouth  may  be  stopped,  and  all  the 
world  may  become  guilty  before  God.  Therefore 
by  the  deeds  of  the  law  there  shall  no  flesh  be  justi- 
fied in  his  sight ;  for  by  the  law  is  the  knowledge  of 
sin. "  So  the  Jew  though  he  had  the  law  was  not 
justified  by  it,  for  its  purpose  was  to  stop  his  mouth, 
make  him  feel  guilty  and  thus  bring  him  to  the 
knowledge  of  sin.  What  was  true  then,  is  true  now, 
we  are  never  justified  by  that  law  the  breaking  of 
which  makes  us  sinners.  Justification  comes 
through  the  merit  of  Christ  which  is  freely  bestowed 
on  us  as  a  work  of  grace.  This  is  just  what  the 
Apostle  wanted  to  make  the  church  at  Rome  feel. 
They  were  .all  sinners,  all  were  condemned  and  when 
they  came  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ  they  came  in 
on  account  of  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus, 
and  hence  stood  on  an  equality  so  far  as  their  rights 
there  were  concerned.  They  all  needed  his  redemp- 
tion and  he  paid  the  same  price  for  each  one.  A 
colored  man  once  arose  and  spoke  in  the  social 
meeting  where  I  was.  He  began  by  saying  :  "Breth- 
ren I  am  worth  as  much  as  any  of  you."  Urang 
my  head  fearing  that  he  was  going  to  boast  of  his 
own  worth,  but  he  went  on:  "It  took  the  blood  of 


WHAT  SAVES  THE  SI  NITER? 


93 


Christ  to  redeem  me,  and  it  took  the  blood  of  Christ 
to  redeem  you ;  he  paid  the  same  price  for  us  all. " 
I  lifted  up  my  head  and  said:  "  Thank  the  Lord  for 
that  speech. "  A  poor  man  once  approached  the 
communion  table  when  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was 
seen  approaching.  Some  one  touched  the  poor  man 
and  said :  "  Wait  a  minute,  the  Duke  is  coming. " 
The  Duke  laid  his  hand  on  the  poor  man's  shoulder 
and  said :  "  Don't  depart  on  my  account,  we  are  all 
equal  here. "  That  is  the  true  Christian  idea.  We 
are  all  equal  so  far  as  our  rights  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  are  concerned.  That  was  what  the  Apostle 
aimed  to  make  the  brethren  at  Rome  feel.  They 
were  all  redeemed  with  the  same  price  and  hence 
were  equal.  Boasting  was  excluded  not  by  the  law 
of  works  but  by  the  law  of  faith. 

Let  us  look  somewhat  closer' into  this  work  of  re- 
demption and  we  shall  see  still  more  clearly  what 
saves  the  sinner.  Our  text  says  that  we  are  justi- 
fied freely  by  his  grace  through  the  redemption  that 
is  in  Christ  Jesus.  By  turning  to  Eph.  1:7,  we 
read,  "  In  whom  we  have  redemption  through  his 
blood,  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  according  to  the  riches 
of  his  grace.  "  From  this  scripture  we  learn  that  it 
is  the  blood  of  Christ  that  redeems.  In  harmony 
with  this  is  the  language  of  the  Savior  when  he  in- 
stituted the  Lord's  Sapper.  Handing  the  cup  to  the 
disciples  he  said :  "  Drink  ye  all  of  it ;  for  this  is 
my  blood  of  the  new  testament,  which  is  shed  for 
many  for  the  remission  of  sins.  "  (Matt.  26 : 27.) 
The  beloved  disciple  likewise  says :  "If  we  walk  in 


94 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


the  light,  as  he  is  in  the  light,  we  nave  fellowship 
one  with  another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his 
Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin.  "  (1  John  1 : 7.)  Kin- 
dred to  this  is  the  saying  of  the  Apostle  in  the  epis- 
tle to  the  Hebrews :  "  For  if  the  blood  of  bulls  and 
of  goats,  and  the  ashes  of  an  heifer  sprinkling  the 
unclean,  sanctifieth  to  the  purifying  of  the  flesh ; 
how  much  more  shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  who 
through  the  eternal  spirit  offered  himself  without 
spot  to  God,  purge  your  conscience  from  dead  works 
to  serve  the  living  God. "  Thus  we  find  that  turn 
where  we  will  in  the  New  Testament  we  find  that 
we  are  saved  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  The  blood  of 
Christ  is  the  procuring  cause  of  our  salvation.  When 
salvation  is  ascribed  to  what  we  do,  it  is  only  in  the 
sense  that  these  acts  of  ours  bring  us  to  "  the  foun- 
tain filled  with  blood  drawn  from  Tmmanuel's 
veins, "  and  not  that  they  save  oy  any  intrinsic 
merit  they  have  in  them  selves.  Thus  it  is  said  that 
faith  saves  us,  repentance  saves  us,  confession  saves, 
baptism  saves  us,  hope  saves  and  so  on,  yet  none 
of  these  things  really  take  away  our  sins.  The  blood 
of  Christ  and  that  alone  takes  away  the  stains  of 
sin.  This  is  the  great  doctrine  of  Protestantism  as 
opposed  to  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  Superer- 
ogation. The  Roman  Catholic  holds  that  a  man 
can  do  more  than  his  duty  and  whatever  is  done  in 
this  way  can  be  applied  to  his  past  sins  or  those  of 
any  one  else.  This  is  rejected  by  all  Protestants  as 
contrary  to  both  Scripture  and  reason.  Nothing  can 
furnish  the  ground  for  the  remission  of  our  past 


WHAT  SAVES  THE  SINNER? 


95 


sins  but  the  merit  of  the  blood  of  Christ.  When  the 
sinner  is  redeemed  he  can  sing : 

"Christ  has  paid  it  all, 
All  the  debt  I  owe  ; 
Sin  had  left  its  crimson  stain, 
He  washed  it  white  as  snow." 

When  we  have  passed  the  pearly  gates  and  take 
our  stand  with  the  redeemed  in  heaven,  we  wilt  not 
be  praising  ourselves  for  the  good  things  we  have 
done  whereby  we  have  been  redeemed,  but  realizing 
that  we  have  washed  our  robes  and  made  them 
white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  we  will  cry  out  in 
the  joy  of  our  hearts  :  "Unto  him  that  loved  us,  and 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  hath 
made  us  kings  and  priests  unttf  God  and  his  Father ; 
to  him  be  glory  and  dominion  forever  and  ever, 
Amen. " 

Again,  as  salvation  is  a  free  gift  bestowed  on  us 
through  the  merit  there  is  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  we 
may  ask,  Upon  whom  is  this  grace  bestowed  ?  Is 
it  bestowed  upon  all  men  ?  So  far  as  I  know  no  one 
advocates  that  all  men  will  be  saved  through  the 
redemption  there  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  True,  there  are 
men  who  maintain  the  doctrine  of  the  salvation  of 
all  mankind,  but  not  through  the  blood  of  Christ. 
Universalists  maintain  cither  that  there  is  no  pun- 
ishment for  sin  in  the  next  world,  or  if  there  is,  that 
.the  sinner  pays  the  full  penalty  by  suffering  it  out. 
In  either  case  there  is  no  redemption  through  the 


96 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


blood  of  Christ.  We  know  that  all  men  are  not 
saved  from  sin  in  this  life  through  the  redemption 
of  Christ,  for  some  reject  him  and  even  blaspheme 
him  to  the  very  hour  of  their  death.  Then,  if  in  the 
next  world,  the  sinner  suffers  out  the  full  penalty 
for  his  sins  he  owes  nothing  to  the  blood  of  Christ. 
The  doctrine  that  the  sinner  must  suffer  out  the  full 
penalty  for  his  sins,  which  is  held  so  far  as  I  know, 
by  all  Universalis ts,  has  no  salvation  in  it,  has  no 
redemption  through  the  blood  of  Christ  in  it,  has  no 
mercy  in  it,  has  no  forgiveness  in  it,  has  no  pardon 
in  it,  has  no  grace  in  it,  and  in  short  has  nothing  in 
it  but  the  cold  demands  of  justice  that  demands  the 
payment  of  the  last  farthing.  But  can  the  sinner 
sutler  out  the  full  penalty  of  violated  law  and  thus 
reach  heaven  independent  of  the  mediation  of  Christ  ? 
He  cannot.  Among  other  reasons  for  saying  he 
cannot,  this  one  is  sufficient.  Had  it  been  possible  for 
fallen  man  to  meet  the  full  demands  of  violated  law 
and  finally  to  have  come  off  free  from  sin  and  all 
its  stains,  God  would  not  have  sent  his  Son  into  the 
world  to  die  on  the  cross,  and  in  this  way  to  extend 
pardon  to  him.  for  God  never  does  for  man  what 
man  can  do  for  himself.  Had  it  been  possible  for 
man  to  have  "extricated  himself  from  the  thraldom 
of  sin,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  God  would 
have  left  him  to  do  so.  The  analogies  of  nature 
teach  us  that  God  does  no  unnecessary  work.  But 
the  doctrine  of  pardon,  forgiveness,  remission  of  sins, 
redemption,  salvation  through  the  blood  of  Christ, 
abounds  in  both  the  old  testament  and  the  new. 


WHAT  SAVES  THE  SINISTER? 


97 


Hence,  man  could  not  save  himself  and  God  has  had 
mercy  on  him  in  the  gift  of  his  Son. 

But  the  question  remains  still  unanswered.  Upon 
whom  is  the  gift  of  redemption  bestowed?  The  an- 
swer is,  Upon  the  obedient  believer.  Let  a  few 
among  many  Scriptures  suffice.  "  Though  he  were  a 
Son,  yet  learned  he  obedience  by  the  things  which  he 
suffered ;  and  he  being  made  perfect,  he  became  the 
author  of  eternal  salvation  unto  all  them  that  obey 
him.  "  (Heb.  5 :  8,  9.)  "  Not  every  one  that  saith 
unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father 
who  is  in  heaven."  (Matt.  7:21.)  "And  to  you 
who  are  troubled  rest  with  us,  when  the  Lord  Jesus 
shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty 
angels,  in  flaming  fire  taking  vengeance  on  them 
that  know  not  God,  and  that  obey  not  the  gospel  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  "  (II  Thes.  1 : 7,  8.)  From 
these  Scriptures  it  is  readily  seen  that  obedience  is 
necessary.  There  is  no  obedience  where  there  is  no 
faith,  hence  it  is  proper  to  say  that  faith  and  obe- 
dience are  necessary  to  qualify  the  sinner  to  receive 
the  gift  of  redemption  through  the  blood  of  Christ. 
This  obedience  on  the  part  of  the  sinner  does  not 
earn  salvation,  but  simply  brings  him  to  where  it  is 
given.  To  some  minds  it  may  not  appear  clear 
how  salvation  can  be  a  free,  unmerited  gift  and  the 
work  of  grace,  if  obedience  is  necessary.  But  a  free 
salvation  can  be  conditional,  but  complying  with 
the  conditions  does  not  earn  the  gift.  What  we  do 
in  complying  with  the  conditions  of  salvation  pays 


9a 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


nothing  to  the  giver,  but  simply  fits  us  for  its  reception 
If  I  go  a  thousand  miles  to  receive  a  gift  from  a  friend, 
my  traveling  though  attended  with  much  toil  and 
labor  to  me,  makes  no  return  to  him,  he  is  none  the 
richer  because  of  my  struggles.  Just  so  with  reference 
to  our  salvation.  We  must  believe,  repent,  confess 
Christ  before  men,  be  baptized,  watch  and  pray  and  • 
work,  and  yet  all  these  things  return  nothing  to 
God  and  could  not  by  any  merit  in  themselves, 
either  separately  or  combined,  remove  the  penalty 
of  one  single  sin.  Had  not  Jesus  died  and  opened 
the  way  to  salvation  through  his  shed  blood,  all  we. 
could  do  would  have  left  us  still  "  without  God  and 
without  hope  in  the  world."  From  the  premises 
now  before  us  two  things  appear  perfectly  clear : 
First,  salvation  is  a  free,  unmerited  gift,  secured  to 
us  through  the  blood  of  Christ ;  and  secondly,  we 
must  be  obedient  believers  in  order  to  secure  this 
salvation. 

Now  certain  deductions  can  be  made  from  these 
conclusions  that  are  highly  important  to  us : 

L  There  is  a  difference  between  what  saves  the 
sinner,  and  what  the  sinner  must  do  to  be  saved. 
The  blood  of  Christ  saves  him,  that  is  clear.  Let  us 
never  lose  sight  of  this  great  fact.  But  he  must 
come  to  the  blood  of  Christ  by  whatever  steps  God 
has  appointed,  but  these  steps  do  not  save  orly  as 
instrumental  causes.  The  real  procuring  cause 
is  the  shed  blood  of  Christ.  When  salvation  is 
ascribed  to  these  steps  on  the  part  of  the  sinner,  this 
is  done  by  a  kind  of  accommodation  of  the  term. 


WHAT  SAVES  THE  SINNER? 


99 


Let  us  take  a  case  as  an  illustration.  Jesus  said 
to  the  woman  who  had  come  unbidden  to  the  house 
of  Simon  and  had  washed  his  feet  with  her  tears 
and  had  wiped  them  with  the  hair  of  her  head. 
"  Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee ;  go  in  peace. "  (Luke 
7:  50.)  Here  salvation  is  ascribed  to  the  woman's 
faith,  but  the  context  shows  that  Jesus  had  saved 
her  for  he  had  forgiven  her  sins,  and  in  this  sense 
she  was  saved.  So  when  he  said  that  her  faith  had 
saved  her  we  are  to  understand  that  her  faith  had 
enabled  her  to  be  saved,  had  brought  her  to  the  feet 
of  the  Savior  in '  humble  penitence.  In  the  same 
manner  are  we  to  understand  the  matter  when  we 
find  salvation  ascribed  likewise  to  repentance,  con- 
fession, baptism  and  works.  These  do  not  save  by 
any  merit  in  themselves  but  they  are  the  steps  we 
take  to  come  into  Christ  and  are  necessary.  People 
sometimes  differ  as  to  what  steps  the  sinner  must 
take  in  coming  into  Christ.  Some  say  that  by 
"  faith  alone  "  the  sinner  comes  into  Christ.  When 
by  "  faith  alone  "  it  is  meant  to  exclude  those  acts  of 
faith,  repentance,  confession  and  baptism,  then  such 
a  position  is  clearly  in  conflict  with  the  teachings 
of  the  Savior  and  his  Apostles.  By  reading  the  great 
commission  as  found  in  Matthew,  Mark  and  Luke 
and  by  following  the  Apostles  as  they  carry  out  that 
commission  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  and  on  other 
occasions,  we  learn  that  the  sinner  must  believe, 
repent,  confess  Christ  before  men,  and  be  baptized 
in  order  to  the  remission  of  sins.  Some,  however, 
strenuously  oppose  mnking  baptism  one  of  the  con- 


100 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ditions  of  the  remission  of  sins.  Bnt  baptism  is 
clearly  tanght  to  be  for  the  remission  of  sins  in 
Acts  2:  38,  and  is  so  understood  by  the  leading 
scholars  of  all  denominations,  (See  the  comment- 
aries of  Hackett,  Olshausen  and  Lange  on  this  pas- 
sage.) Superficial  thinkers  have  often  charged  on 
us  that  in  holding  to  baptism  for  the  remission  of 
sins  we  teach  a  tL  water  salvation"  or  baptismal  re- 
generation. Such  a  charge  grows  oat  of  either  ig- 
norance or  spite.  Very  far  are  we  from  holding  to 
any  efficacy  in  water.  There  is  not  water  enough 
in  the  ocean  to  wash  away  a  single  sin.  Only  the 
blood  of  Christ,  as  we  have  seen  before,  can  do  that. 
But  baptism  administered  to  a  penitent  believer 
brings  him  in  humble  submission  to  the  authority 
of  Christ,  and  while  baptism  may  thus  be  said  to 
save  him,  it  by  no  means  takes  the  place  of  the 
blood  of  Christ,  nor  does  it  save  him  in  the  sense  in 
which  the  blood  of  Christ  cleanses  him  from  all  sin. 
Let  us  not  confound  that  which  actually  takes  away 
the  stains  of  sin  by  its  own  intrinsic  merit  and  that 
which  is  only  one  of  the  steps  by  which  we  come 
into  Christ.  And  because  neither  baptism  nor  any 
other  human  act  has  the  power  to  cleanse  from  sin, 
let  us  not  think  that  it  is  not  necessary  and  may  be 
dispensed  with.  The  Savior  knows  best.  We  must 
be  loyal  to  him. 

n.  The  value  of  whatever  we  do  in  coming  into 
Christ  is  owing  to  its  appointment  to  that  end. 
We  are  compelled  to  stand  by  this  deduction  or  as- 
sume that  there  is  intrinsic  merit  in  human  acts  to 


WHAT  SAVES  THE  SUTLER? 


101 


save  from  sin.  But  we  cannot  do  that  unless  we 
abandon  the  distinctively  Protestant  ground  that 
all  merit  in  redemption  from  sin  is  in  the  blood  of 
Christ.  Let  us  illustrate  this  position  by  referring 
to  the  case  of  Naaman,  the  leper.  The  leprosy  that 
prevails  in  the  East  is  an  incurable  malady  by 
human  means.  The  great  Syrian  captain  was 
directed  by  the  prophet  Elisha  to  go  and  wash  him- 
self seven  times  in  the  river  Jordan.  Naaman  was 
not  willing  to  do  this  at  first  and  was  about  to  de- 
part to  Damascus.  He  must  have  looked  at  this 
requirement  too  much  as  some  are  disposed  to  look 
at  God's  appointment  in  these  days.  Surely  there 
can  be  no  efficacy  in  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  to 
heal  a  leper,  and  if  he  must  dip  himself  in  water, 
better  go  back  to  Damascus  where  there  are  two 
rivers,  the  Abana  and Pharpar,  "better  than  all  the 
.waters  of  Israel. "  But  his  servant  prevailed  on 
him  to  do  as  the  prophet  had  demanded  and  he  did 
so  "  and  his  flesh  came  again  like  unto  the  flesh  of 
a  little  child,  and  he  was  clean."  (2  Kings,  5.) 
Now  this  is  a  beautiful  and  forcible  illustration  for 
us.  There  is  no  efficacy  in  the  waters  of  the  Jordan 
to  heal  the  leprosy.  Why  did  it  heal  Naaman  then  ? 
Solely  because  it  was  God's  appointment  to  that 
end.  God  did  the  healing  and  Naaman  placed  him- 
self in  proper  relation  to  God's  government  by  doing 
as  the  prophet  directed.  So  faith,  repentance,  con- 
fession, baptism  and  whatever  else  we  may  be  com- 
manded to  do  cannot  by  any  merit  in  themselves 
save  us  from  sin,  but  by  doing  what  is  commanded 


102 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


we  place  ourselves  in  proper  relation  to  the  author- 
ity of  Christ  and  he  heals  us. 

We  must  then  do  whatever  Christ  commands  us 
to  do  and  all  that  he  commands  and  nothing  more. 
If  we  do  something  that  he  has  not  commanded  it 
will  be  of  no  avail  for  the  value  of  what  Ave  do  is 
owing  to  its  appointment.  Self-inflicted  tasks 
or  punishments  then,  such  as  Roman  Catholic 
penance,  can  be  of  no  avail,  they  lack  the  authority 
of  Christ,  the  thing  absolutely  essential  to  their 
value.  So  we  must  not  alter,  change  or  modify  the 
commands  and  ordinances  of  the  Lord,  for  thereby 
we  neutralize  the  authority  of  Christ.  Christ  must 
in  all  things  be  supreme. 

HT.  It  follows  from  what  we  now  have  deduced 
that  one  thing  appointed  of  the  Lord  in  order  to 
salvation  is  just  as  good  as  another. 

This  must  be  so,  for  the  intrinsic  merit  is  not  in* 
what  we  do  but  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  the  value 
of  what  we  do  grows  out  of  its  appointment  to  that 
end.  If  we  keep  this  last  deduction  in  mind  we 
shall  be  done  with  all  quibbling  about  the  Lord's 
appointments  and  simply  ask  like  the  awaked  Saul 
"  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do.  " 

Such  then  is  the  plan  of  redemption.  Man  is  a  sin- 
ner ;  the  penalty  of  God's  violated  law  hangs  over 
him ;  he  cannot  remove  that  penalty  by  keeping  the 
violated  law ;  if  he  undertakes  to  suffer  out  that  pen- 
alty it  will  ruin  him  forever;  he  needs  to  be  par- 
doned ;  Christ  has  come  to  redeem  him  and  for  that 
purpose  shed  his  blood  on  the  cross;  that  blood 


WHAT  SAVES  THE  SINNER? 


103 


alone  can  cleanse  him  from  sin ;  he  must  submit  to 
the  authority  of  Christ  before  this  blood-bought  re- 
demption can  be  his.  0  sinner,  come  to  Christ,  flee 
to  him. 

"  Come  you  sinners,  poor  and  needy, 
Weak  and  wounded,  sick  and  sore : 
Jesus  ready  stands  to  save  you, 
Full  of  pity,  love  and  power.  " 


D.  R.  DUNGAN. 


B.  R  DTJNGAN. 


AVID  ROBERTS  DTJNGAN,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  born  in  Noble  County,  Indiana,  May 
15,  1837.  His  father,  James  Dungan,  was  born  in 
Beaver  County,  Pennsylvania,  October  5,  1807.  The 
great  grandfather  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  west  of 
Pittsburg  and  one  of  the  first  purchasers  of  land 
under  our  government  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  a  descendant  of  the  Earl  of  Dungannon, 
but  to  have  been  of  Scottish  and  Welsh  extraction.  James  Dun- 
gan was  married  to  Mary  Ann  Johns,  near  Wilmington,  Ohio,  in 
1828,  and  soon  after,  moved  to  Noble  County,  Indiana,  where  he 
remained  till  the  spring  of  1838,  from  whence  he  moved  with 
his  young  family  to  Clay  County,  same  State.  Here  he  remained 
till  the  summer  of  1852,  when  he  took  trail  for  the  great  North- 
west, and  stopped  in  Harrison  County,  Iowa.  The  bulk  of  the 
Mormons  had  just  gone  to  Utah,  and  the  Pottawatomie  In- 
dians had  but  a  short  time  before,  gone  to  their  hunting 
grounds  farther  west. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  had  been  a  delicate,  sickly  lad  up 
to  this  time,  weigking  on  his  fifteenth  birthday,  only  sixty- 
three  pounds.  In  this  new  country,  fare  was  coarse  and  work 
was  hard.  Council  Bluffs,  then  called  Kanesville,  was  the 
nearest  trading  post  and  post-office.  There  were  two  grist-mills 
a  few  miles  nearer,  where  corn  could  be  ground.  A  log  house 
with  one  room  and  a  sod  chimney  on  the  outside  was  the  place 
of  shelter  for  the  first  year.  There  was  no  lumber  in  the  build- 
ing; still  it  was  a  good  house  for  that  country.  In  point  of 
ventilation  it  was  without  a  blunder.   The  wild  meats,  corn 

106 


106 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


bread  and  potatoes  seemed  to  be  wholesome  diet,  for  with  all 
the  toil  incident  to  making  a  new  farm,  his  weight  was  120 
pounds  on  his  sixteenth  birthday,  and  all  signs  of  ague  had  dis- 
appeared, and  now,  but  for  a  premature  grayness  and  baldness 
one  would  never  suppose  that  he  had  been  a  sickly  youth.  He 
has  reached  a  height  of  about  five  feet  ten,  and  weighs  about 
170  on  an  average.  He  was  baptized  into  Christ  by  C.  P.  Evans, 
March  31,  1858,  and  one  year  from  that  day  tried  to  preach  for 
the  first  time.  He  has  preached  regularly  ever  since.  Was 
ordained  to  the  ministry  of  the  Word  in  autumn  of  the  year 
following.  February  17,  1861,  he  was  married  to  Mary  Ann 
Kinnis,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland,  was  employed  by  a  co-operation 
to  preach  that  year,  part  of  the  time  in  Iowa  and  part  in  Ne- 
braska. C.  P.  Evans  and  W.  A.  Denton  were  co-laborers  in 
that  work.  Part  of  the  time  he  resided  in  De  Soto,  Nebraska, 
and  part  of  the  time  in  Omaha,  same  Territory.  In  the  spring  of 
1862 he  returned  to  Harrison  County,  Iowa,  where  he  farmed  and 
improved  some  land  which  he  had  previously  bought,  and 
preached  on  Lord's  days  to  country  congregations.  During  the 
winter,  however,  he  taught  school  near  Glenwood,  Iowa.  In 
the  spring  of  1863  he  moved  to  Plattsmouth,  Nebraska,  where 
he  preached  and  taught  for  a  year.  This  school  was  offered 
him  the  next  year  at  double  wages,  but  he  chose  to  give  all  his 
time  to  the  work  of  the  ministry.  On  the  first  day  of  January, 
1865,  he  began  work  under  the  auspices  of  our  General  Mission 
ary  Board,  in  which  work  he  continued  for  about  six  years,  only 
taking  out  of  it  time  for  a  short  course  in  Kentucky  University. 
Through  his  efforts  R.  C.  Barrow  was  located  as  a  fellow- 
missionary  in  Nebraska,  who  still  continues  to  labor  in  that 
State  as  its  evangelist.  Under  their  labors  the  cause  was  well 
established  in  Nebraska.  In  the  summer  of  1867  he  was  chap- 
lain of  the  first  State  legislature  of  Nebraska,  and  the  last  one 
that  was  held  in  Omaha.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  moved  to 
Pawnee  City,  where  he  preached  till  the  spring  of  1871,  when  he 
went  to  Lincoln  where  he  remained  till  1874.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  effort  to  buildup  the  State  University  in  Lincoln  he  was 
made  a  regent,  which  position  he  held  up  to  the  time  of  his 
removal  from  the  State  in  the  summer  of  1874,  having  been  a 
regent  for  six  years.  He  also  served  as  chaplain  of  the  senate, 
the  winter  of  1872-73. 


D.  R.  DUNGAN. 


107 


He  drew  the  prohibitory  liquor  law  that  came  within  one 
vote  of  passing;  and  the  final  passage  of  the  Warren  Criminal 
Code  that  winter  was  largely  owing  to  his  influence  and  man- 
agement. From  1874  to  1877  he  pre'ached  for  the  church  in 
Oskaloosa,  Iowa.  He  was  then  two  years  preaching  in  Eldora, 
Iowa.  In  the  summer  of  1879  he  was  nominated  for  Governor 
on  the  prohibition  ticket.  He  made  a  gallant  fight,  as  is 
claimed  by  the  Radicals  of  that  State,  who  maintain  that  it  was 
this  campaign  that  brought  the  Republican  party  to  an  inter- 
pretation of  their  platform,  which  bound  them  to  submit  the 
constitutional  amendment  in  favor  of  the  prohibition  of  the 
liquor  traffic  in  that  State.  Not  long  after  the  campaign  was 
over,  he  came  to  Davenport,  where  he  has  remained  until  a 
month  ago,  when  he  went  to  assume  his  new  responsibilities  as 
professor  in  the  Bible  department  of  Drake  University,  at 
DesMoines,  Iowa.  He  is  not  a  graduate  of  any  college,  and 
yet  he  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  really  learned  men  of  the  West. 
He  has  made  every  man  his  teacher,  and  acknowledges  himself 
particularly  indebted  to  Professors  Fisher,  Hand  and  Benton, 
aside  from  his  teachers  in  Lexington.  He  is  thought  to  have 
read  and  studied  widely  and  deeply.  He  has  served  as  lecturer 
and  teacher  at  Clear  Lake  and  Lake  Minnetonka,  the  Chautau- 
qua of  the  Northwest,  and  is  now  president  of  the  Iowa  State 
Sunday-school  Association.  He  has  been  president  of  the  Iowa 
Chrisian  Missionary  Convention  for  five  years,  and  of  the  Gen- 
eral Convention  for  one.  His  unanimous  choice  by  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Drake  University,  as  teacher  of  sacred  literature, 
indicates  the  confidence  of  the  brethren  of  that  State  in  his 
ability.  In  the  many  public  debates  he  has  had  he  is  regarded  as 
a  fair  and  able  disputant.  He  has  thus  considered  Mormonism, 
Methodism,  Baptistism,  Soul-sleepingism,  Adventism,  Spirit- 
ualism, Atheism,  Quakerism,  etc.,  etc.  Synopses  of  two  of  his 
debates  have  been  printed  —  one  with  Leonard  Parker,  Method- 
ist, which  is  now  out  of  print,  and  the  other  with  W.  F.  Jamie- 
son,  Spiritist  and  Infidel.  He  published  "On  tlie  Rock"  in 
1873,  "  Modern  Phases  of  Skepticism  "  in  1878,  "  Rum,  Ruin  and 
the  Remedy"  in  1879.  He  gave  three  out  of  the  five  lectures  in 
the  first  printed  "Lectureship  of  Missouri."  He  has  written  a 
number  of  tracts,  such  as  "  Modern  Revivalism,"  Mistakes  of 
"Ingersoll  about  Moses,"  "Our  Plea  and  Mission,"  "  What  Must 


108 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


we  do  to  be  Saved?"  These  works  have  met  with  good  sale. 
During  his  pastorate  in  Davenport  he  edited  the  Northwestern 
News,  the  temperancepaper  of  Iowa,  for  about  a  year  and  a  hall. 
His  preaching  has  everywhere  had  a  good  result.  He  does  solid 
work  only.  His  style  isplain,  scriptural  and  argumentative.  His 
manner  is  that  of  a  teacher,  rather  than  what  is  known  as  a 
pulpit  orator.  Still,  as  a  popular  lecturer,  he  is  valued  highly, 
and  in  his  State  brings  the  highest  price.* 

Since  the  above  appeared  in  the  Standard,  he  has  taught 
very  successfully,  in  the  Bible  Department  at  Drake  University; 
and  has  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  Besides,  he  has 
written  "  Chang  Foo,"  prepared  and  delivered  two  lectures  for 
the  Missouri  Lectureship,  and  preached  and  written  on  various 
topics  almost  every  week,  attended  meetings  of  State  Board, 
Preachers'  Institute,  delivered  oration  on  the  Fourth,  etc.,  etc., 
showing  that  he  is  an  inveterate  worker. 

•From  Christian  Standard,  Nov.  8, 1888. 


WINNING  SOULS. 


BY  D.  E.  DUNGAN. 


"He  that  winneth  souls  is  wise." — Prov.  9:30. 

RIGHT  vocation  makes  life  easy  and  prof- 
itable. A  mistaken  life-plan  is  a  continued 
annoyance  with  but  few,  if  any,  profitable 
results.  He  who  has  the  ability  to  accom- 
plish the  work,  should  choose  the  noblest 
and  most  responsible  of  callings.  Men  of  genius 
may  invent.  Men  of  science  may  discover  the  subtle 
forces  that  control  the  world  of  matter.  Our  geogra- 
phers may  sail  all  seas  and  introduce  us  to  sunny 
lands  and  show  us  the  mountains  of  gold.  The  men 
and  women  of  aesthetics  may  beautify  the  earth.  The 
learned  may  help  to  endow  the  world  with  intelli- 
gence. But  of  all  the  hosts  of  human  agents,  of  the 
busy  workers  in  all  fields,  he  that  wins  souls  from 
sin  and  folly,  and  purifies  the  fountain  of  human 
life ;  he  who  turns  the  world  from  corruption  and 
mis  fry  to  the  God  of  all  grace  and  blessing,  is  most 
truly  wise. 


110 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


The  greatness  of  this  work  may  be  seen  in  the 
characters  of  those  who  are  thus  employed.  The 
best  men  who  have  ever  graced  the  world  have  been 
thus  devoted.  The  Prophets,  Apostles,  martyrs  and 
the  saints  of  all  ages  have  been  engaged  in  saving 
their  race  from  sin  and  consequent  ruin.  The  angels 
have  ever  manifested  a  deep  interest  in  the  salvation 
of  our  race.  They  were  employed  in  giving  the  law 
of  Moses,  and  have  come  to  our  earth  times  out  of 
number  with  messages  that  were  to  help  us  to  a 
higher  and  holier  life.  The  Father,  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  have  been,  and  are,  engaged  in  this 
grand  work  of  elevating  and  saving  fallen  humanity. 
In  this  work  we  are  laborers  together  with  God.  The 
whole  of  the  Savior's  earthly  ministry  and  death 
was  undertaken  and  accomplished  in  our  behalf. 
His  toil  and  teaching,  his  sorrow  and  suffering,  were 
all  for  the  purpose  of  lifting  the  world  up  to  him- 
self, that  through  him  we  might  be  saved.  The 
Spirit  was  sent  to  complete  the  revelation  and  con- 
firm the  word  with  signs  following.  How  great  must 
be  that  work  to  which  the  heavens  bow !  Surely 
nothing  can  be  proposed  by  man  that  will  be  more 
worthy  of  his  loftiest  devotions  and  mightiest  energy. 
In  this  work  he  has  the  society  of  all  the  pure  and 
good  of  earth,  all  the  unfallen  angels,  and  even  of 
the  Godhead. 

The  wisdom  of  this  calling  may  be  seen  in  its 
results.  It  may  be  seen  in  the  sins  removed,  in  the 
peace  and  good-will  which  follow,  in  the  prosperity 
and  happiness  of  all  living,  in  the  purity  of  soul 


WDTNJSG  SOTJLS. 


Ml 


and  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  understanding. 

If  the  whole  world  should  at  once  begin  to  prac- 
tice only  as  the  New  Testament  teaches,  all  we  have 
understood  by  the  Millennium  would  begin  at  once. 
Sin  and  all  its  concomitants  would  be  forever  at  an 
end.  Drunkenness,  and  theft,  and  murder,  and  vio- 
lence of  all  kinds  would  be  entirely  obliterated. 
Anarchy  and  misrule,  injustice  and  dishonor  would 
go,  never  to  return  again.  In  the  place  of  all  that 
injures  and  spreads  disappointment,  misery  and 
death,  would  come  peace  and  good-will,  harmony, 
joy  and  gladness.  Swords  would  be  beaten  into 
plowshares  and  spears  into  pruning  hooks,  and  the 
nations  would  learn  war  no  more  forever. 

This  is  what  would  be,  if  all  souls  were  won  to  the 
Lord.  But  he  who  wins  any  soul  from  its  error 
saves  it  from  death  and  hides  a  multitude  of  sins. 
He  contributes,  too,  just  so  much  toward  that  gen- 
eral good  which  would  result  from  the  conversion  of 
the  whole  world.  Hence,  when  we  calculate  the  sin 
and  misery  that  would  be  avoided  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  joy  and  blessedness  which  would  follow  on 
the  other,  we  must  say  of  all  the  vocations  open 
to  men,  that  of  winning  souls  is  the  grandest  and 
most  Godlike. 

The  text  assumes  that  men  may  win  souls.  This 
involves  the  thought  that  men  may  be  turned  from  sin 
by  human  instrumentality,  nay,  that  such  agency  is 
the  divine  plan  for  the  salvation  of  the  race.  In  the 
written  creeds  this  is  contradicted,  but  in  the  real 
creeds  of  the  people,  it  is  everywhere  believed.  Mul- 


113 


THE  IOW  a.  *ULPIT. 


titudes,  whose  creeds  say  that  man  must  first  he 
regenerated  hy  a  direct  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
"before  he  can  do  anything  for  himself,  or  have  any 
thing  done  for  him  hy  any  fellow  mortal,  are  "busy 
at  work  to  save  the  world  from  sin :  reproving,  re- 
buking, exhorting  with  all  long  suffering  and  teach- 
ing, thus  showing  that  they  know  they  have  a  work 
to  do  in  the  matter,  and  that  men  can  hear  and  heed 
the  divine  will  and  thus  he  saved.  Their  real  creed 
is  right  and  their  written  creed  is  wrong.  Paul  said 
to  Timothy,  (1  Tim. 4: 16.)  "Take  heed  unto  thyself, 
and  unto  the  doctrine;  continue  in  them;  for  in 
doing  this  thou  shalt  both  save  thyself  and  them 
that  hear  thee. "  Of  course  no  one  thinks  of  Tim- 
othy saving  any  one  hy  virtue  of  any  sacrifice  which 
he  might  offer.  All  that  it  was  possible  for  him  to 
do  was  to  point  the  people  to  the  way  of  the  Lord 
and  induce  them  to  walk  therein.  This  however, 
would  do  no  good  unless  it  were  possible  for  the 
unconverted  man  to  hear  and  accept  truth  and  be 
saved  thereby.  The  gospel  is  the  power  of  God  to 
salvation.  But  the  gospel  must  be  preached  that 
men  may  believe  in  it  and  follow  its  teachings  that 
they  may  be  saved. 

"When  Paul  was  called  to  be  an  apostle,  he  was 
commissioned  to  go  to  the  Gentiles.  "  To  open  their 
eyes,  and  turn  them  from  darkness  to  light,  and 
from  the  power  of  satan  unto  God,  that  they  may 
receive  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  inheritance  among 
them  which  are  sanctified  by  faith  that  is  in  me.  " 
Acts  26 : 18.   And  in  all  history,  no  man  has  become 


WWNINQ  SOULS. 


US 


a  Christian  without  first  having  heard  of  Christ. 
Through  the  channel  of  direct  power,  without  human 
agency,  no  man  has  ever  "been  made  a  Christian  that 
we  know  of.  Jesus  everywhere  and  always  treated 
men  as  if  they  could  accept  of  truth  and  be  saved. 
Indeed  his  condemnation  of  unbelief  would  be  ex- 
ceedingly unjust  on  any  other  basis.  Why  should 
he  ever  have  commanded  the  world  to  believe  on 
him,  und  pronounce  eternal  death  upon  them  if  they 
did  not  believe,  if  he  knew  all  the  time  that  they 
could  not  believe  ?  But  as  no  one  really  believes 
the  doctrine  that  men  are  so  depraved  that  they  can 
not  turn  to  the  Lord,  we  can  afford  to  let  it  pass  and 
assure  ourselves,  as  Solomon  did,  that  men  are  re- 
sponsible to  Grod  for  the  acceptance  of  his  truth. 

But  the  practical  question  connected  with  this 
whole  matter  is,  How  shall  we  convert  men?  How 
shall  we  win  souls  ?  How  shall  we  turn  men  from 
darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  satan  unto 
God? 

1.  If  we  would  win  souls  to  Christ,  we  must  be 
right  ourselves.  A  revival  of  religion  is  usually 
preceded  by  spirituality  in  the  church.  The  old 
plan  of  holding  a  revival  meeting  was  first  to  get 
the  Lord  willing  and  ready  to  save  sinners.  Night 
after  night  he  was  besought  to  send  down  the  nec- 
essary power  to  convert  the  world.  When  the 
church  became  duly  aroused  on  the  subject,  the 
work  would  begin,  not  before.  A  body  of  profess- 
ors who  are  godless  or  indifferent,  will  effectually 

estop  all  religious  interest  in  that  community. 
8 


114 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Some  men  can  read  nature  and  learn  much  of 
nature's  God.  Others  read  history  and  know  of 
him  by  his  dealings  with  men.  A  still  larger  num- 
ber read  the  Bible  and  know  of  God  by  its  teach- 
ings. But  all  men  read  the  church.  And  they 
judge  of  our  religion  by  the  lives  of  those  who  pro- 
fess it.  Nothing  ever  commends  the  religion  of 
Christ  bike  a  godly  life.  And  nothing  so  impedes 
its  progress,  or  neutralizes  its  power,  as  indifference 
and  impiety  on  the  part  of  those  who  profess  it. 
David  gives  us  a  good  hint  on  this  subject  in  Ps. 
51 : 10,  13 :  "  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  0  God ; 
and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me.  Cast  me  not 
away  from  thy  presence;  and  take  not  thy  Holy 
Spirit  from  me.  Restore  unto  me  the  joy  of  thy 
salvation ;  and  uphold  me  with  thy  free  spirit.  Then 
will  I  teach  transgressors  thy  ways,  and  sinners 
shall  be  converted  unto  thee. "  Knowledge  puffs 
up,  while  love  builds  up.  If  the  soul  be  without 
knowledge,  it  is  not  good.  But  impiety  is  complete 
ruin. 

2.  The  truth  must  be  preached.  It  has  pleased 
God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save  them 
that  believe.  He  has  proposed  to  purify  the  heart 
by  faith,  and  yet  faith  comes  by  hearing,  and  hear- 
ing by  the  word  of  God.  The  gospel  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation.  And  yet  the  gospel  may  lie 
on  our  center  stands,  or  stand  in  our  libraries  for- 
ever and  save  no  one.  In  Romans,  10 : 13,  14,  Paul 
throws  out  a  challenge  which  I  believe  no  one  has 
yet  taken  up. 


"WINNING  SOULS. 


115 


"For  whosoever  shall  call  ivpon  the  name  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  saved.  How  then  shall  they  call  on 
him  in  whom  they  have  not  believed  ?  And  how 
shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard?  And  how  shall  they  hear  without  a 
preacher  ? " 

A  church  can  do  much  in  the  way  of  preaching 
the  gospel,  by  having  all  the  members  at  work  in 
spreading  the  good  news,  or  in  earnestly  contending 
for  the  faith.  When  the  first  church  was  broken 
up  by  persecution,  the  members  went  everywhere 
preaching  the  word.  The  church  at  Thessalonica 
sounded  out  the  word  of  life  and  were  praised  for 
it  by  the  Apostle. 

But  there  is  work  to  be  done  which  a  church  can 
not  do  in  this  way.  Men  who  give  all  their  time  to 
the  cares  and  anxieties  of  this  life  cannot  do  justice 
in  preaching  the  gospel  in  this  day  of  infidelity  and 
sectarianism.  If  there  was  nothing  in  the  way  of 
the  people  receiving  the  gospel  and  acting  upon  it, 
about  all  that  would  be  needed  would  be  to  have 
the  truth  clearly  presented.  Almost  any  one  who 
has  thoroughly  studied  the  word  of  God  could  do 
that.  But,  alas,  they  are  not  ready.  On  account  of 
their  lethargy,  the  persuasive  power  of  the  preacher 
is  necessary  to  bring  them  up  to  the  condition  of 
hearing  and  heeding  the  will  of  the  Lord.  The 
work  of  the  preacher  has  in  all  ages  been  necessary. 
Call  him  by  what  name  you  will,  preacher,  pastor, 
evangelist,  clergyman  or  missionary,  he  is  heaven's 
agent  in  turning  the  people  from  darkness  to  light, 
and  from  the  power  of  satan  to  God. 


118 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


The  importance  of  the  preacher  makes  it  proper 

to  consider  his  qualifications,  howwe  shall  be  able 
to  find  the  men  we  need  for  the  ministry,  and 
how  we  shall  be  able  to  keep  them  in  the  field.  Of 
course  I  have  time  but  for  the  merest  reference  to 
each  of  these  several  thoughts. 

If  I  were  to  name  the  qualifications  for  a  preacher 
in  the  order  of  their  importance,  I  would  say :  (1) 
piety,  (2)  good  common  sense,  (3)  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  Bible,  (4)  a  liberal  education,  (5) 
good  health,  (6)  industry  and  energy,  (7)  trustful 
and  persevering,  (8)  large  sympathy  with  the  peo- 
ple. I  could  name  a  great  many  qualities  and  qual- 
ifications, but  these  are  the  most  important,  and,  for 
the  present,  quite  sufficient. 

A  measure  of  success  may  be  had,  in  the  absence 
of  some  of  the  qualities  I  have  named.  But  if  the 
preacher  be  not  a  man  of  piety  and  common  seuse,  his 
energies  ought  to  be  turned  in  some  other  channel 
as  soon  as  possible.  I  would  have  the  education  as 
full  as  possible,  but  a  knowledge  of  science  and  the 
classics  will  no  more  qualify  him  for  his  work  as  a 
minister  of  the  gospel  than  to  plead  law,  or  practice 
medicine.  As  a  preacher,  knowledge  of  the  word 
of  the  Lord  is  above  all  other  knowledge,  and,  with- 
out it,  he  ought  to  be  kept  out  of  the  pulpit. 

A  man  too,  may  be  educated  out  of  sympathy  for 
the  people  for  whom  he  is  to  minister.  This  should 
not  be  the  case ;  for  the  man  who  lifts  the  people 
up  into  a  higher  life,  must  come  close  to  them.  If 
he  cannot  sympathize  and  fraternize  with  them,  he 
will  not  be  able  to  do  them  much  eood. 


WINNING  SOULS. 


117 


Bnt  we  are  frequently  met  with  the  question,  how 
shall  we  get  these  preachers  ?  Certainly  we  are  au- 
thorized to  look  for  them.  "Without  doing  so,  we 
will  not  likely  find  them.  The  Master  directs  us  to 
pray  for  them  ;  to  pray  to  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  to 
send  more  laborers  into  the  field.  Do  we  do  that? 
I  verily  believe  that  if  all  disciples  would  pray  con- 
stantly over  this  matter,  we  would  have  no  lack  of 
preachers.  If  we  would  encourage  the  young  men 
who  are  already  seriously  thinking  of  preparing 
themselves  for  this  great  work ;  if  we  would  assist 
them  in  going  to  school  and  thus  preparing  them- 
selves for  this  work  of  winning  souls,  we  would  turn 
the  steps  of  many  in  the  right  direction,  whereas, 
for  the  want  of  such  timely  aid,  they  turn  to  other 
fields  of  labor. 

We  have  the  coming  preachers  right  in  our  own 
houses ;  they  are  our  own  boys.  Do  we  ever  en- 
courage them  to  enter  the  ministry?  Do  we  ever 
tell  them  of  the  blessedness  of  this  work?  If  we 
are  to  be  able  to  supply  foreign  fields  with  compe- 
tent missionaries,  they  must  come  from  our  homes. 
They  will  be  our  boys  and  girls.  Are  we  ready  to 
give  them  to  this  work  of  the  Lord?  It  was  the 
home  training  that  prepared  Timothy  and  even 
Paul,  in  a  very  large  sense,  for  the  work  which  they 
accomplished  in  after  years.  No  young  man  should 
enter  the  ministry  unless  the  ministry  is  in  him. 
But  the  desire  to  preach  the  gospel  usually  comes 
from  the  pi«jty  of  home,  from  the  teaching  and  influ- 
ence of  father  and  mother 


118 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


How  to  support  these  preachers  after  we  get  them 
is  one  of  the  great  questions  of  the  day.  I  would 
say,  first,  let  us  provide  the  men  we  ought  to  have, 
and  half  of  the  difficulty  will  have  been  met  and 
pushed  aside.  It  is  a  great  trouble  to  sustain  in- 
competent men.  When  we  have  godly  men,  full  of 
faith  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  endowed  with  wisdom 
and  prudence,  who  will  go  anywhere  to  preach  the 
gospel,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  sustain  them.  A 
very  little  machinery,  or  even  none  at  all  would 
work  wonders  in  the  salvation  of  the  world ;  if  our 
piety  and  earnestness  were  what  they  ought  to  be, 
plans  of  work  would  trouble  us  but  very  little. 

3.  Use  personal  influence.  When  Andrew  found 
the  Messiah,  he  went  immediately  in  search  of 
Simon,  and  soon  had  him  added  to  the  number  of 
disciples.  When  Philip  knew  Jesus  he  went  and 
found  Nathaniel.  And  though  he  might  not  have 
been  able  to  answer  all  of  Nathaniel's  objections,  he 
could  get  him  to  come  and  see  for  himself,  which  re- 
sulted in  his  faith  and  devotion. 

Personal  contact  is  the  surest  way  of  reaching  the 
people.  When  Philip,  the  evangelist,  had  but  one 
in  his  audience,  he  was  entirely  successful.  Paul 
seems  to  have  converted  all  the  household  of  Lydia, 
when  he  sat  down  and  talked  to  them  concerning 
salvation  in  Christ,  at  the  river  side.  He  who  visits 
the  people  at  their  own  homes  and  teaches  them 
the  way  of  the  Lord,  is  most  likely  to  be  successful. 

But  this  is  a  work  that  needs  not  to  be  limited  to 
the  man  we  call  the  preacher.   The  whole  church 


WINNING  SOULS. 


119 


can  largely  assist  in  it.  If  every  member  of  every 
church  would  work  in  this  way  for  the  advancement 
of  the  cause  of  Christ,  there  would  be  at  least  one 
hundred  conversions  to  one  that  now  obtains.  It  is 
a  good  thing  before  a  protracted  meeting,  to  get  all 
who  will  enter  the  work  to  meet  for  drill.  Let  the 
preacher  prepare  them  for  this  service  with  special 
instruction.  These  are  the  days  of  great  revivals. 
If  one  of  them  was  about  to  come  to  the  place  where 
I  was  preaching,  I  would  go  to  work  at  once  to  put  • 
the  forces  in  array,  not  to  withstand  the  effort,  not 
to  run  a  tilt  against  the  sentiment  that  would  then 
be  created,  but  to  direct  it.  I  would  have  all  the 
young  members  especially  prepared  to  go  into  the 
meeting,  Bible  in  hand,  to  show  every  inquiring 
soul  the  way  of  life  in  Christ.  Some  one  will  say 
that  I  would  be  invited  to  retire.  It  might  be,  and 
yet  it  is  not  likely.  But  if  I  should,  what  of  it  ?  It 
would  only  give  me  and  my  brethren  the  sympathy 
of  the  community,  and  enable  us  to  do  still  more 
good. 

Church  members  can  do  a  great  deal  of  good  by 
the  circulation  of  our  tracts  and  books.  This  may 
be  done  without  any  cost  whatever,  except  that  of 
time  and  effort.  Many  persons  could  be  reached 
in  this  way,  who  cannot  be  had  to  hear  a  sermon 
from  one  of  our  preachers.  It  is  by  this  personal 
effort  that  Spurgeon's  tabernacle  is  kept  constantly 
full.  He  has  hundreds  of  young  men  who  go  out 
on  Lord's  day  afternoon,  and  speak  to  the  people 
where  they  can  get  a  hearing  for  a  few  moments, 


120 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


and  then  as  the  crowd  is  dispersing  they  invite 
them  to  the  tabernacle.  In  this  way  thousands  of 
persons  are  reached  who  would  otherwise  never 
take  any  interest  in  the  subject  of  Christianity. 

4.  Two  extremes  have  to  be  guarded  against; 
either  giving  all  the  time  to  argument  or  dispensing 
with  it  entirely.  It  is  easy  to  mistake  a  hobby-rid- 
ing zeal  for  piety.  Even  truth  may  be  pushed  to 
an  untruthful  extreme.  Men  have  been  converted 
to  right  ways  of  thinking  rather  than  to  Christ. 
Some  have  seen  this  extreme  and  have  gone  to  an 
opposite  view ;  that  it  matters  little  about  the  doc- 
trine, just  so  the  people  love  the  Lord.  They  would 
paint  out  the  lines  which  separate  truth  from  error, 
and  regard  with  equal  favor  all  religious  dogmas. 
This  is  a  great  mistake.  No  healthy  full-grown 
Christian  can  be  produced  in  that  way.  A  church 
built  upon  that  kind  of  teaching  is  essentially 
weak.  They  do  not  know  the  difference  between 
truth  and  error,  and  the  first  time  the  church  comes 
into  trouble  they  will  go  somewhere  else.  They 
will  not  only  cease  to  be  our  friends  and  helpers, 
but  turn  to  be  most  bitter  opponents.  This  disposi- 
tion does  not  stop  in  giving  up  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  day  and  the  Lord's  supper,  but  it  bends  to 
all  the  demands  of  the  times,  until  it  yields  up  the 
atonement,  and  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  accepts 
a  gospel  of  sentiment.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  we  must  deal  in  this  kind  Of  linsey-woolsy,  in 
order  to  reach  the  popular  ear,  or  to  keep  from  of- 
fending the  religious  world.   Hundreds  of  our  best 


WINNING  SOULS. 


121 


thinkers  to-day  do  not  attend  church  anywhere, 
simply  because  they  feel  that  the  time  is  wasted. 
They  get  to  hear  only  flights  of  rhetoric  or  goodisli 
sentimentalism,  until  they  are  surfeited  with  it. 
They  want  to  hear  some  one  who  believes  something; 
who  has  a  gospel  that  must  be  accepted,  the  receiv- 
ing of  which  is  life,  and  the  rejection  of  which  is 
death.  There  never  was  a  more  doctrinal  preacher 
than  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  The  Apostles  were  in  the 
highest  sense  dogmatical.  They  believed  that  un- 
less men  accepted  the  gospel  they  would  be  damned. 
They  believed  their  teaching  to  be  the  truth  and 
that  whatever  opposed  it  was  not  true. 

There  is  a  great  charm  in  plain  teaching.  Jesus 
presented  matters  of  greatest  importance  in  most 
simple  phraseology,  and  the  people  heard  him  gladly. 
If  two-thirds  of  the  adjectives  in  the  average  sermon 
of  to-day  could  be  exchanged  for  sound  teaching 
concerning  the  great  things  of  eternal  life,  the  peo- 
ple would  hear  with  greater  relish. 

5.  Preach  the  truth  ih  love.  It  is  not  enough  to 
condemn  sin,  to  show  its  terrible  and  awful  results ; 
nor  when  we  have  pointed  out  the  remedy  for  sin, 
can  we  be  at  all  sure  that  we  are  going  to  reach  the 
people.  Hortatory  power  is  of  great  advantage. 
As  a  people,  we  know  but  little  of  exhortation.  We 
have  been  given  so  wholly  to  right  views  that  we 
have  lost  much  of  that  warmth  and  fervency  in  our 
preaching,  that  has  been  used  with  such  good  effect, 
by  the  revivalists  of  every  age,    Every  sermon 


122 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ought  to  be  studied  over  and  over  again  in  the  light 
of  its  purpose.  Whom  do  you  expect  to  win  by 
the  effort  ?  What  good  do  you  expect  the  sermon 
to  do?  Let  the  soul  become  saturated  with  the 
thought  of  the  sermon  and  thoroughly  aroused  to 
the  end  in  view.  When  the  eternal  destiny  of  the 
hearer  weighs  heavily  on  the  heart,  there  will  be 
that  earnestness  that  will  go  far  towards  carrying 
conviction  to  all  who  hear.  It  is  this  same  power 
of  love  for  God  and  man  that  makes  the  sermon 
helpful  to  saints  as  well  as  sinners. 

This  fervency  is  not  simply  for  the  preacher,  or 
the  pulpit  alone,  but  for  all  workers  in  all  efforts  to 
win  souls.  Indeed,  in  the  hand-to-hand  engagement 
it  is  indispensable.  It  is  better  than  all  studied 
forms,  and  will  introduce  the  subject  of  religion  with 
less  probabilities  of  giving  offense  than  the  follow- 
ing of  any  of  the  rules  of  social  and  religious  eti- 
quette. I  go  into  a  sick  room  with  the  intention  of 
doing  something  in  directing  the  mind  of  the  sufferer 
towards  God.  I  am  careful  lest  I  give  offense.  So 
I  wait  till  I  can  change  the  subject  gradually.  But 
some  good  old  mother  in  Israel  comes  in,  and  she  is 
talking  about  the  Savior  in  less  time  than  I  could 
think  of  the  plan  by  which  to  introduce  the  subject. 
No  one  knows  just  how  she  introduced  the  matter. 
The  truth  is,  her  heart  was  full  of  Christ  and  conse- 
quent earnestness,  and  she  began  the  conversation 
because  she  could  not  help  it,  and  all  thought  it 
was  entirely  proper.    If  you  will  win  souls  to  Christ, 


WINNING  SOULS. 


123 


keep  your  own-  heart  full  of  the  divine  message  that 
is  to  be  employed  for  the  good  of  others. 

The  blessedness  oe  winning  souls.  Preachers 
have  many  discouragements.  Many  of  them  are 
financially  straitened  all  through  life.  And  yet 
there  is  a  joy  and  blessedness  in  the  ministry  to  be 
found  nowhere  else.  The  true  servant  of  God  lives 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people  as  no  one  else  does.  God 
blesses  him  in  his  deeds  of  love  and  makes  him  a 
real  possessor  of  the  earth. 

Paul  says  of  the  brethren  at  Philippi  that  they 
were  his  joy  and  crown.  In  writing  to  the  Thessal- 
onians  he  says:  "For  what  is  our  hope,  or  joy,  or 
crown  of  glorying?  Are  not  even  ye,  before  our 
Lord  Jesus  at  his  coming?  For  ye  are  our  glory 
and  joy. " 

There  is  no  other  joy  that  is  comparable  to  the 
spiritual  happiness  experienced  by  the  true  minis- 
ter of  the  gospel,  in  being  a  worker  together  with 
God,  in  advancing  his  truth  and  saving  the  world. 
When  Simon  and  Andrew,  James  and  John  were 
made  fishers  of  men,  they  were  lifted  into  the  highest 
position  that  may  be  occupied  by  any  mortal.  The 
prophets  of  old  and  the  angels  in  heaven  may  alike 
admire  this  holy  calling.  No  wonder  it  was  said  of 
old :  "  How  beautiful  are  the  feet  them  that  bring 
glad  tidings  of  good  things.  " 

This  joy  is  not  limited  to  public  teachers  of  the 
word,  but  it  belongs  to  all  who  will  strive  together 
for  the  advancement  of  the  truth  of  God  and  the 


124 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


salvation  of  the  race.  In  the  midst  of  misfortunes, 
the  thought  that  their  lives  have  been  given  to  che 
service  of  him  who  never  forgets  his  faithful  children 
is  blessed  indeed.  The  reward  in  the  world  to  come 
will  be  heightened  and  sweetened  by  the  presence 
of  those  whom  we  have  directed  in  the  way  of  the 
Lord 


J.  K.  CORNELL. 


J.  K.  CORNELL. 


HIS  preacher,  so  well  known  in  Iowa,  was  born  at  Woos- 
ter,  Wayne  County,  Ohio,  April  30, 1829;  son  of  Samuel 
B.  Cornell  an  only  son  in  a  family  of  eight  children. 
Had  only  the  advantages  of  a  country  school  education : 
but  witb  unusual,  native  proficiency,  made  soeh  prog- 
ress, that  he  began  teaching  school  when  but  sixteen 
years  old. 

Removed  to  Macon  County,  Illinois  in  1854,  where  he  contin- 
ued teaching  in  winter  and  working  at  mechanics  in  summerf 
having  learned  the  trade  of  masonry  Here  also  he  made  his 
first  efforts  at  preaching,  his  first  appointment  being  with  the 
Texas  congregation  in  DeVVitt  County;  but  his  principal  efforts 
were  with  the  churches  at  Newburg,  Macon,  and  Creek  Nation 
De  Witt  Counties. 

In  1860  he  came  to  Iowa  and  again  engaged  in  teaching  and 
preaching,  as  opportunity  offered.  Was  three  years  principal 
of  the  public  schools  at  Farmington,  but  resigned  in  the  autumn 
of  '63  to  evangelize  under  the  auspices  of  Van  Buren  County 
Co-operation.  After  two  years  successful  evangelizing  in  that 
county,  he  spent  a  year  at  Fairfield  and  Brighton,  and  again 
returned  and  labored  another  year  in  Van  Buren.  He  next  re- 
moved to  Brighton,  Washington  County,  where  he  remained  for 
three  years.  At  that  place  his  ministry  was  well  received,  and 
in  debate  with  one  M.  E.  Cornell,  a  Sabbatarian,  he  carried  off 
the  spoils  of  victory,  by  the  verdict  of  the  people.  He  also  de- 
bated with  D.  M.  Canwright  at  Richland  and  also  at  Leon,  eaeh 
time  fully  meeting  the  expectation  of  his  friends. 

Since  his  pastorate  at  Brighton,  he  has  labored  at  Fairfield 
West  Liberty,  Winterset,  Chariton,  New  Sharon,  Montezuma, 

125 


126 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Albia,  et  al.  Was  made  President  of  the  Iowa  Christian  Con- 
vention in  1872,  which  position  he  held  for  three  years  in  suc- 
cession. Was  made  State  Evangelist  in  1877  and  served  one 
year.  Was  again  made  President  of  the  convention  in  1879, 
and  served  one  year  and  a  half  and  resigned. 

Was  Trustee  of  Oskaloosa  College  for  ten  years,  during 
which  time  he  attended  every  Commencement,  and  meeting  of 
the  Trustees.  He  has  also  attended  every  State  meeting  since 
1863  except  one.  He  is  now  one  of  the  State  Evangelists,  hav- 
ing been  selected  last  year— 1883. 

Bro.  Cornell  stands  six  feet  in  his  boots,  has  excellent  health 
and  tips  the  beam  at  195  pounds.  Of  fair  complexion,  turning 
somewhat  gray,  though  not  much  for  one  of  his  age.  Is  ener- 
getic and  careful  in  his  work,  companionable  a  nd  fraternal,  and 
withal  one  of  our  best  preachers.  His  place  of  residence  is  Kent, 
Union  County,  Iowa.  He  is  the  father  of  Profesor  A.  B.  Cor- 
nell, Trenton,  Missouri,  the  eldest  of  five  living  children,  three 
sons  and  two  daughters. 


SALVATION  ALL  OF  GRACE. 




BY  J.  K.  COENELL. 


"For  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith;  and  that  not  of 
yourselves :  it  is  the  gift  of  God  :  not  of  works,  lest  any  man 
should  boast.  For  we  are  his  workmanship,  created  in  Christ 
Jesus  unto  good  works,  which  God  hath  before  ordained  that  we 
should  walk  in  them."— Eph.  2:  8, 10. 

HE  great  theme  of  the  Bible  is  the  salvation 
of  man  from  sin  and  its  consequences,  and 
Christ  is  the  center  and  the  circumference  of 
the  whole  plan  of  salvation. 
Salvation  implies  danger  or  a  condition 
from  which  it  is  desirable  to  escape.  But  when  we 
turn  to  the  Scriptures  and  read  of  salvation  or  the 
means  of  salvation,  we  readily  learn  that  the  same 
salvation  is  not  always  spoken  of.  Sometimes  the 
inspired  writers  speak  of  salvation  from  the  condem- 
nation into  which  the  human  family  had  fallen  when 
sin  was  introduced  into  the  world,  as  in  1  Tim,  4 : 10, 
and  sometimes  of  being  saved  from  our  past  sins,  as 
in  Rom.  10  : 10. 

127 


128 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


There  are  at  least  three  distinct  salvations  taught 
in  the  Scriptures  and  all  are  emphatically  through 
grace. 

I.  When  man  had  fallen  on  account  of  sin,  and 
became  separated  from  God,  the  way  was  closed 
and  guarded  so  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to 
return  to  God  until  a  way  was  opened  for  him.  All 
men,  whether  they  had  sinned  as  did  Adam,  or  were 
guilty  of  actual  sin  or  not,  were  under  the  same  con- 
demnation. "Therefore,  as  by  the  offense  of  one- 
judgment  came  upon  all  men  to  condemnation." 
Rom.  5  : 18.  The  reason  all  men  were  under  the 
same  condemnation  was  hot  because  all  men  had  in- 
herited a  sinful  or  depraved  nature  from  Adam,  for 
it  is  not  clear  that  any  of  Adam's  posterity  inherited 
such  a  nature  from  him,  or  that  even  Adam's  nature 
was  changed  by  the  fall.  His  character  was  changed 
by  his  sin  and  he  thus  became  a  sinner,  and  because 
he  had  become  sinful  he  was  driven  from  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Father.  But  the  reason  that  all  men  were 
under  the  same  condemnation  was  because  the  way 
to  God's  presence  was  closed  and  no  man  could  open 
it.  None  but  divine  power  could  open  the  way  to 
God.  And  even  a  divine  being  could  only  do  this 
by  the  offering  of  such  a  sacrifice  as  would  answer 
the  demand  of  infinite  justice.  This  demand  was 
answered  when  the  "Word  was  made  flesh  " — Em- 
manuel—  living  among  men,  "  learned  obedience  by 
the  things  which  he  suffered,"  (Heb.  5 :  8)  and  when 
he  had  accomplished  all  things  given  him  to  do,  he 
gave  himself  a  sacrifice  for  man,  went  down  into 


SALVATION  ALL  OF  GRACE. 


129 


death  and  the  unseen  world,  and  from  the  far  off 
depths  in  which  man  was  separated  from  God  he 
arose,  conquering  the  power  of  death  and  the  unseen 
world,  breaking  down  and  overcoming  whatever  may 
have  been  in  the  way  of  man's  returning  to  God,  the 
Father,  ascended  to  heaven  and  made  an  offering  of  t 
his  own  blood  on  the  altar  of  God  in  heaven  for  the 
redemption  of  man.  The  Father  accepted  this  sac- 
rifice and  offering.  Then  was  man  redeemed — saved, 
"  not  according  to  our  works,  but  according  to  his 
own  purpose  and  grace,  which  was  given  us  in  Christ 
Jesus  before  the  world  began." — 2  Tim  1 : 9. 

The  way  is  thus  opened  and  man  ir  no  longer  in  a 
condemned  state,  helpless,  but  may  now  come  to 
God  through  Christ.  He  is  thus  through  grace  saved 
from  his  fallen,  lost  condition,  and  appears  before 
God  to  answer  for  his  own  doings,  and  is  not  now 
under  condemnation  for  the  sin  of  another. 

Here  then  we  have  a  salvation,  a  universal  and 
unconditional  salvation,  and  therefore  the  Apostle 
says,  "  For  therefore  we  both  labor  and  suffer 
reproach  because  we  trust  in  the  living  God,  who 
is  the  Savior  of  all  men,  specially  of  those  that  be- 
lieve."— 1  Tim.  4 : 10.  And  again,  "  Therefore  as  by 
the  offense  of  one  judgment  came  upon  all  men  to 
condemnation ;  even  so  by  the  righteousness  of  one 
the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  unto  justification  of 
life." — Rom.  5 : 18.  This  is  the  first  salvation  and 
this  having  been  accomplished  for  man  without  any 
condition  on  his  part,  and  having  merited  nothing  at 
the  hand  of  God,  it  is  all  of  grace,  therefore  the  de- 


130 


TUK  IOWA  PULPIT. 


claration  of  Paul,  "  But  God,  who  is  rich  in  mercy, 
for  his  great  love  wherewith  he  loved  us,  even  when 
we  were  dead  in  sins,  hath  quickened  us  together 
with  Christ,  (by  grace  ye  are  saved)."' — Eph.  2  :  4,  5. 

II.  But  it  must  he  remembered  that  by  this  ex- 
pression of  God's  love,  man  is  not  saved  from  his 
*  own  sins,  hence  the  Apostle  says,  "  For  by  grace  are 
ye  saved  through  faithy — Eph.  2  : 8.  Here  is  a  con- 
dition required  of  man  in  order  to  salvation.  But  to 
all  children  and  others  incapable  of  knowing  the 
truth  and  believing,  this  first  salvation  will  result  in 
their  final  and  eternal  salvation,  because,  not  having 
the  power  to  know  a  law,  to  them  there  is  no  law, 
and,  "  where  no  law  is  there  is  no  transgression." — 
Rom.  4:15. 

But  man  having  been  redeemed  and  saved  from 
his  helpless  condition,  unfortunately  has  fallen  by 
reason  of  his  own  sins,  and  therefore  if  he  is  accepted 
of  God  and  owned  by  the  Christ,  he  must  be  saved 
from  his  own  sins.  But  the  heavenly  Father  proposes 
to  save  man  from  his  own  sins  upon  certain  condi- 
tions. These  conditions  God  in  His  own  wisdom  and 
love  has  arranged  and  calls  upon  man  to  accept, 
yield  obedience,  and  be  saved. 

The  Savior,  in  anticipation  of  these  conditions, 
that  man  must  know  in  order  that  he  may  yield 
obedience  to  them,  and  also  recognize  the  authority 
by  which  they  are  demanded,  after  the  last  and 
greatest  demonstration  of  his  divinity — his  resurrec- 
tion from  the  dead,  said  to  the  Apostles  whom  he  had 
chosen,  "  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and 


SALVATION  ALL  OF  GRACE. 


131 


in  earth." — Math.  28 : 18.  And  after  informing  them 
of  the  high  authority  with  which  He  spoke,  com- 
manded them,  saying, "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that  be- 
lieveth and  is  baptized  shnll  be  saved;  but  he  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  condemned." — Mark  16 : 15, 16. ♦ 
But  they  were  not  yet  qualified  for  the  work  they 
were  commanded  to  do,  and  He  said  to  them,  "  And 
behold,  I  send  the  promise  of  my  Father  upon  you : 
but  tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  until  ye  be 
endued  with  power  from  on  high." — Luke  24:49. 

After  Jesus  had  ascended  to  heaven  and  was 
"  made  both  Lord  and  Christ,"  and,  "  being  by  the 
right  hand  of  God  exalted,"  He  sent  the  Holy  Spirit, 
in  fulfillment  of  His  promise,  to  qualify  them  for 
the  work  He  had  given  them  to  do.  When  they 
had  received  the  Spirit  and  power  to  demonstrate  the 
truth  which  they  preached  "  by  signs  and  wonders, 
and  with  divers  miracles  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit," 
they  began  at  once  to  preach  the  gospel,  that  man 
might  believe,  for  the  Savior  said, "  He  that  believeth 
and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved." 

Now  here  is  a  salvation  that  depends  upon  condi- 
tions. As  recorded  by  Mark  (16 : 16)  we  have  the 
extremes,  faith  and  baptism,  but  Luke  (24 :  47)  gives 
us  another  item,  "  that  repentance  and  remission  of 
sins  should  be  preached  in  His  name,"  or  by  His 
authority.  From  a  careful  summary  of  the  items 
found  in  the  commission  as  given  by  Mark  and 
Luke,  we  have  "  He  that  believeth,  repents  and  is 
baptized  shall  be  saved  or  receive  the  remission  of 


133 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


sins."  Therefore  the  Apostle  says,  "For  by  grace 
are  ye  saved  through  faith;  and  that  (salvation)  not 
of  yourselves  :  it  is  the  gift  of  God." — Eph.  2 :  8. 

This  salvation  or  remission  of  sins  is  not  the  par- 
don of  original  or  inherited  sins  in  us,  but  the 
pardon  of  our  own  actual  sins — wrong  doings  that 
we  have  done.  Whatever  condemnation  man  was 
under  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin,  that  has  been 
taken  away  by  the  sacrifice  and  offering  of  the  blood 
of  Christ. 

Now  as  our  being  saved  from  our  sins  depends 
upon  these  conditions,  it  may  be  asked  if  there  is 
any  virtue  or  merit  in  our  faith  and  our  repentance, 
or  in  our  baptism,  to  take  away  our  sins.  To  which 
the  answer  must  be  in  the  negative.  There  certainly 
is  no  virtue  or  merit  in  any  or  all  of  these  conditions 
to  take  away  any  sin,  not  even  the  least.  But  it 
may  be  further  urged  that  if  these  have  no  virtue 
by  which  sins  are  removed,  why,  then,  any  neces- 
sity for  doing  them?  This  may  be  illustrated  as  fol- 
lows :  Suppose  a  stranger  stands  at  your  door  on 
a  cold,  dark  night,  with  the  thermometer  thirty 
degrees  below  zero,  while  you  are  seated  with  your 
family  about  your  warm  and  cheerful  fire.  He  cries 
out,  I  am  perishing  with  cold !  warm  me,  O  warm 
me  or  I  shall  die  !  You  invite  him  in  to  be  warmed 
by  your  fire,  assuring  him  that  there  is  an  abund- 
ance of  fire  to  warm  him  and  make  him  comfortable. 
All  that  is  necessary  for  him  to  do  is  to  come  to 
the  fire  and  he  will  be  warmed.  He  answers,  it  is 
useless  to  come  in,  here  are  several  steps  to  pass 


SALVATION  ALL  OF  GRACE. 


133 


over  to  get  there  and  this  walking  will  not  warm  me. 
I  can  and  will  be  warmed  without  this  walking.  The 
fire  alone  will  warm  me,  this  I  know  and  I  will  not 
do  this  walking,  that  will  not  warm  me.  But  you 
plead  with  him  and  tell  him  it  is  true  that  the  walk- 
ing to  the  fire  will  not  warm  him,  but  this  is  neces- 
sary to  bring  him  to  the  fire  that  he  may  be  warmed 
by  it,  and  if  he  refuses  to  do  this  and  thus  come  to 
the  fire  and  be  warmed  by  it,  he  must  perish,  for 
there  is  no  other  way  to  be  warmed.  If  he  refuses 
to  do  that  which  is  necessary  to  bring  him  to  the  fire, 
he  must  perish. 

So  it  is  in  coming  to  the  blood  of  Christ,  that  we 
may  receive  the  remission  of  sins.  It  is  the  blood  of 
Christ  that  cleanses  from  sins,  not  the  coming  to  the 
Christ. "  Without  shedding  of  blood  is  no  remission." 
— Heb.  9 :  22.  "  If  we  walk  in  the  light,  as  he  is  in 
the  light,  we  have  fellowship  one  with  another,  and 
the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  His  Son,  cleanseth  us  from 
all  sin." — 1  John  1 : 7.  This  walking  is  the  obedi- 
ence— the  coining  to  the  blood  of  Christ,  and 
although  there  is  no  efficacy  in  the  obedience  to  take 
away  sin,  yet  this  walking  is  necessary  to  bring 
man  to  Christ's  blood  that  does  cleanse  us  from  all 
sin. 

Christ  "is  the  true  light  which  lighteth  every  man 
that  cometh  into  the  world."  "  I  am  the  light  of  the 
world  :  he  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  dark- 
ness, but  shall  have  the  light  of  life." — John  1 :  9 
and  8: 12. 


134 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Thus  in  obeying  Christ  we  are  walking  in  the 

the  light — in  Him.  Now  as  is  our  walking  to  get  to 
the  fire,  to  be  warmed,  so  is  oar  obedience  to  bring 
us  to  the  place  where  pardon  is  received — to  Christ. 
Now  as  our  works  have  no  virtue  or  worth  to  procure 
pardon,  it  is  then  all  of  grace  and  "  not  of  works,  lest 
any  man  should  boast."  This  then  is  a  second  sal- 
vation by  which  we  are  saved. 

III.  But  man  is  not  yet  eternally  saved,  therefore 
the  Apostle  says  to  the  brethren  atPhilippiwho  had 
been  saved  from  their  past  sins,  ''Wherefore,  my  be- 
loved, as  ye  have  always  obeyed,  not  as  in  my  pres- 
ence only,  but  now  much  more  in  my  absence,  work 
out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling." — 
Phil.  2  : 12.  And  again,  Peter  in  writing  to  the  "So- 
journers of  the  Dispersion,"  including  all  they  had 
done  to  bring  them  into  the  relation  of  elect  persons 
in  the  one  word  "  faith,"  says,  "  add  to  your  faith, 
virtue ;  and  to  virtue,  knowledge ;  and  to  knowledge, 
temperance ;  and  to  temperance,  patience ;  and  to 
patience,  godliness ;  and  to  godliness,  brotherly 
kindness ;  and  to  brotherly  kindness,  charity — love, 
*  *  *  for  if  ye  do  these  things,  ye  shall  never 
fall :  For  so  an  entrance  shall  be  ministered  unto 
you  abundantly  into  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  our 
Lord  and  Savior,  Jesus  Christ."  Here  then  again 
are  conditions  upon  which  eternal  salvation  depends. 

Having  turned  away  from  the  service  of  sin  to  the 
service  of  God,  there  is  before  us  now  a  life  of  right- 
eousness.   This  is  a  perpetual  service  in  obedience 


SALVATION  ALL  OF  GRACE. 


135 


to  Christ.   But  the  Christian  life  is  not  a  menial 

service,  but  a  service  of  love.  The  Apostle  said, "  For 
the  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us."  So  must  the 
Christian  be  moved  to  action,  not  through  fear,  but 
through  love.  While  he  cannot  and  ought  not  to 
feel  that  he  is  earning  or  meriting  the  Father's 
blessings,  yet  should  he  rejoice  that  God  has  provid- 
ed the  means  whereby  he  may  come  to  Him  through 
Christ  and  receive  the  gift  of  eternal  life.  The  prom- 
ise is  that  to  him  "who  by  patient  continuance  in  well 
doing,  seeks  for  glory  and  honor  and  immortality," 
God  will  give  "  eternal  life."  Salvation  then  is  all 
of  grace  and  the  Christian  may  and  ought  to  sing  as 
the  real  sentiment  of  his  heart —  ■ 

"Grace !  'tis  a  charming  sound, 
Harmonious  to  the  ear; 
Heaven  with  the  echo  shall  resound, 
And  all  the  earth  shall  hear. 

Grace  first  contrived  the  way 

To  save  rebellious  man ; 
And  all  the  steps  that  grace  display, 

Which  drew  the  wondrous  plan. 

Grace  led  our  wandering  feet 

To  tread  the  heavenly  road ; 
And  new  supplies  each  hour  we  meet 

While  passing  on  to  God. 

Grace  all  the  works  shall  crown 

Through  everlasting  days ; 
It  lays  in  heaven  the  topmost  stone, 

And  well  deserves  the  praise." 


138 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


And  having  such  a  privilege  given  to  us  of  becom- 
ing sons  of  God  and  heirs  of  life  through  this  grace, 
we  should  most  earnestly"  press  toward  the  mark  for 
the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus," 
singing  praises  to  God  and  of  Jesus  and  his  love. 

My  heart  would  sing,  yes  always  sing 

Of  God,  the  good  and  blest, 
Who  comes  to  man  with  grace  and  love, 

Through  Christ,  to  give  him  rest. 


J.  H.  PAINTER. 


J.  H.  PAINTER. 


i3  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  of  Samuel  and 
Nancy  Painter,  in  Fleming  County,  Kentucky,  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1841.  In  1844  they  removed  to  Gold  Brook, 
(now  Cameron)  Warren  County,  Illinois,  where  was, 
nt  that  time  a  flourishing  congregation  of  Disciples, 
and  where  their  son  received  his  first  religious  impres- 
sions in  witnessing  the  worship  of  the  Davidsons, 
Whitmans,  Sheltons,  Reynolds  and  Murphys. 

In  1849  they  removed  to  the  south  part  of  the  county,  near 
Swan  Creek,  and  bought  a  farm  on  which  J.  H.  worked  with 
his  father  during  the  summer  months,  and  attended  the  district 
schools  in  winter  :  till  1855  when  his  father  sold  out,  and  bought 
some  wild  land  in  McDonough  County.  The  work  of  opening  up 
a  new  farm  of  320  acres,  was  attended  with  much  privation  and 
exposure,  but  with  a  little  hired  help  the  father  was  enabled  to 
send  the  lad  to  school  during  winter  as  before,  where  he  made 
rapid  advancement  in  his  studies. 

In  1860  an  Academy  was  in  operation,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Free  Will  Baptists,  at  Prairie  City,  Illinois.  The  Principal 
was  Daniel  Branch,  one  of  Garfield's  old  teachers.  To  this 
school  he  was  sent.  About  two  years  previously,  he  had  united 
with  the  M.  P.  church,  and  was  immersed,  intending  to  unite 
with  the  Disciples  at  the  first  opportunity,  there  being  no 
church  nearer  than  Bushnell.  But  being  associated  with  the 
people  he  was,  he  soon  learned  to  scorn  the  doctrine  of  "water 
salvation,"  "no  Holy  Spirit  religion,"  "  no  change  of  heart," 
etc.,  and  decided  to  remain  in  the  Methodist  church,  on  the 
principle  that,  while  it  did  not  exactly  suit  him,  it  was  per- 
haps as  good  as  any  ! 

In  1861  he  enlisted  in  the  army;  and  going  through  the  cam- 
paigns in  Missouri  and  Arkansas  under  Gen.  Curtis :  siege  of 

137 


138 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT 


Corinth,  Mississippi,  under  Halleck;  The  march  op  through 
Kentucky,  under  Buel ;  down  to  Chattanooga,  under  Rose- 
crans ;  and  Georgia  under  Sherman,  his  term  of  service  expired 
in  1864.  During  the  period  of  his  enlistment  he  made  no  pre- 
tensions to  piety. 

Shortly  after  leaving  the  army  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Kate 
Carter,  of  Tennessee,  and  again  united  with  the  church,  this 
time  the  M.  E.  church.  He  was  soon  made  class  leader ;  then 
licensed  to  exhort,  and  finally  nominated  for  license  to  preach, 
while  he  was  on  "probation."  He  was  licensed  in  1865,  made  a 
few  attempts  to  preach ;  but  in  1866  he  removed  to  Cass  County, 
Missouri,  whither  his  father  also  moved  from  Illinois.  While 
there  his  father  prevailed  on  him  one  day  to  go  with  him  and 
hear  M.  D.  Todd  preach,  who  was  holding  a  meeting  a  few  miles 
away.  He  was  impressed  with  the  earnestness  and  candor  of 
the  preacher,  but  pitied  his  ignorance  concerning  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Todd  gave  opportunity  for  written  questions,  and  he 
wrote  out  three,  which  were  answered  so  Scripturally,  evincing 
a  much  greater  knowledge  even  of  Methodism  than  he  himself 
had,  that  after  both  a  private  and  public  conference,  he  united 
with  the  Disciples  in  the  autumn  of  1868. 

When  he  took  the  step  he  abandoned  the  idea  of  ever  preach- 
ing again;  but  early  in  1869  he  was  pursuaded  to  make  an  ap- 
pointment at  Morristown,  Missouri.  It  was  his  first  effort 
among  the  Disciples,  and  was  urged  to  continue  monthly 
preaching  at  that  point,  which  he  did  for  three  years,  adding 
during  the  time  about  one  hundred  members  to  the  church. 
Meanwhile  he  had  been  teaching  school,  and  growing  in  the 
confidence  of  the  brethren,  so  that  he  had  appointments 
every  Sunday. 

In  1872  he  removed  to  Kansas  and  engaged  actively  and 
exclusively  in  preaching,  meeting  with  large  success,  (baptizing 
in  one  year,  516  persons),  until  the  grasshopper  scourge  in  74 
and  75,  when  he  went  to  the  place  of  his  boyhood,  in  Illinois. 
Here- his  relatives  and  early  companions  kindly  provided  for  his 
necessities;  and  he  in  turn  preached  the  gospel  to  them;  bap- 
tizing several  of  his  relatives,  and  some,  around  whose  knees  he 
had  played  in  childhood ;  organized  a  church,  numbering  about 
one  hundred,  and  built  a  house  of  worship  which  was  dedi- 
cated September,  1876. 


i\  H.  PAINTER. 


139 


On  Christmas  day  of  the  same  year,  he  landed  in  Iowa  and 
began  preaching  for  Nichols  and  Big  Springs'  churches,  and  has 
been  "  as  busy  as  a  bee  "  ever  since.  He  preached  for  Nichols 
two  years ;  for  Big  Springs  four  years ;  for  Columbus  City  and 
Frank  Pierce  one  year,  besides  holding  several  meetings  outside 
of  his  field. 

In  November,  '81  he  was  employed  as  State  Evangelist,  which 
position  he  still  holds.  He  has  never  held  any  meetings  where 
the  additions  reached  a  hundred,  but  he  has  worked  so  con- 
stantly that  he  has  received  into  the  church  by  baptism  and 
from  other  religious  bodies,  up  to  the  time  this  sketch  was 
written,  3065  persons. 

In  personal  appearance  he  is  five  feet  six  inches  in  height, 
weighs  ahoutl35  pounds,  brown  hair  and  hazel  eyes.  In  style 
as  a  speaker,  conversational,  clear,  pointed  and  instructive: 
relying  on  the  power  of  the  truth,  when  understood,  to  bring 
the  wonted  results.  He  has  held  a  few  public  discussions,  with 
credit  and  satisfaction.  Is  a  fair  singer,  a  good  organizer, 
agreeable  among  his  brethren,  and  energetic  and  untiring  in 
the  work  of  the  gospel. 


PREACHING. 


BY  J.  H.  PAINTER. 


"  For  whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall 

be  saved."— Rom.  10:13. 

HATEVER  is  covered  by  the  expression 
"  Call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord "  is  a 
question  in  dispute ;  but  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  salvation  none  will  deny.  There 
is  also  great  concord  in  the  position  that, 
whatever  is  essential  to  calling  upon  the  name  of 
the  Lord  is  likewise  essential  to  salvation.  But 
just  what  is  essential  to  that,  is  in  dispute.  The 
controversy  shows  about  the  following  positions : 

1.  In  order  that  the  sinner  may  call  upon  the 
name  of  the  Lord  and  be  saved,  his  spirit  must  be 
impressed  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  so  as  to  incline  him 
to  seek  the  Lord  in  prayer.  If  the  Scriptures  figure 
in  the  matter  at  all,  they  are  certain  portions  which 
the  Holy  Spirit  applies  to  his  heart,  by  which  he 
unerringly  sees  his  real  condition,  and  the  way  out 
therefrom. 

It  is  held  that  the  Holy  Spirit  will  lead  sinners  to 
call  upon  the  name  of  the  .Lord  and  be  saved,  who 
never  read  or  heard  read  the  Scriptures ;  that  if 

141 


148 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


preaching  has  anything  to  do  with  it,  it  is  because 
the  Holy  Spirit  at  the  time,  or  at  some  other  time, 
applies  it  to  his  heart,  and  not  because  there  is  any 
thing  in  the  preaching  itself  that  enables  him  to 
call  upon  God.  Just  how  the  Holy  Spirit  does  this 
is  not  known,  as  it  is  held  to  be  miraculous.  Those 
holding  this  position  use  the  Scriptures  to  illustrate 
rather  than  to  establish  their  doctrine ;  and  of  course 
rely  upon  prayer  as  the  most  potent  of  all  human 
means  in  enabling  men  to  call  upon  the  name  of  the 
Lord  and  be  saved. 

2.  The  other  position  agrees  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
must  influence  the  act  of  calling  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  but  holds  that  he  does  so  through  human 
agency;  that  the  scriptures  "  Are  able  to  make  men 
wise  unto  salvation ;  that  they  contain  the  Gospel 
of  Christ  which  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation. " 
2  Tim.  3 : 15.  Rom.  1 : 16. 

It  denies  that  sinners  are  enabled  to  call  upon  the 
name  of  the  Lord  who  never  heard  the  gospel,  nor 
read  it ;  that  any  power  is  known  outside  of  the  gos- 
pel to  impart  such  ability  to  the  sinner;  or  that  the 
"  Righteousness  of  God  "  is  revealed  elsewhere  than 
in  the  gospel.    Rom.  1 : 17. 

On  the  other  hand  it  affirms  that  the  gospel  is  a 
divine  power,  placed  at  man's  disposal  to  enlighten 
him,  to  direct  him ;  and  that  to  exercise  this  power 
it  must  be  preached  by  tongue,  type,  or  pen.  Those 
holding  this  position  rely  upon  the  Scriptures  to  es- 
tablish, defend  and  illustrate  it;  and  consequently 
resort  to  preaching  as  the  most  potent  of  human 


PREACHING. 


143 


means  to  enable  their  fellow-men  to  call  upon  the 

name  of  the  Lord  and  be  saved. 

This  position  assigns  to  preaching  a  very  high 
place  in  the  scale  of  conditions  necessary  to  man's 
salvation  ;  and  ought  to  be  well  supported  by  the 
Bible  before  any  man  adopts  it. 

In  the  investigation  of  the  subject  of  preaching, 
we  will  observe  the  following  order : 

1.  Its  necessity. 

2.  Upon  whom  rests  the  responsibility  of  preach- 
ing. 

3.  What  to  preach,  and 

4.  Its  aim  and  object. 

I.  Its  necessity.  If  men  can  know  the  will  of 
God  and  do  it,  without  hearing  it  proclaimed,  they 
certainly  can  be  saved  without  preaching.  For 
Christ  says :  "He  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father 
in  heaven,  shall  enter  into  his  kingdom. "  (Matt. 
7 : 21.)  And  while  preaching  might  be  of  assistance 
in  some  phase  of  salvation,  it  would  not  be  actually 
necessary  to- secure  it.  And  if  preaching  is  not  nec- 
essary, neither  is  a  preacher,  since  those  who  do  not 
preach  can  sing,  exhort  and  pray  as  well  perhaps, 
as  a  preacher.  And  if  a  preacher  is  not  necessary, 
it  is  a  foolish  waste  of  money  to  employ  him  his 
whole  time  in  doing  an  unnecessary  thing.  Besides 
it  is  difficult  to  see  any  inducement  to  devote  one's 
time  to  j> reaching,  when  it  is  not  necessary,  unless 
there  is  money  to  be  made  at  it,  And  by  the  same 
rule,  if  something  else  would  pay  better,  then,  we 
would  bettei  do  something  else. 


144 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


These  reflections  lead  us  to  inquire  what  saith  the 
Scriptures  about  this  matter?  We  shall  assume 
that,  what  they  say  is  the  truth  about  it,  and  urge 
every  one  concerned  to  act  accordingly. 

1.  Notice  then  the  following:  "How  then  shall 
they  call  on  him  in  whom  th<jy  have  not  believed? 
And  how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they 
have  not  heard  ?  And  how  shall  they  hear  without 
a  preacher?  And  how  shall  they  preach  except 
they  be  sent  ? "    (Rom.  10 : 14.) 

This  Scripture  presents  six  steps  leading  to  man's 
redemption.  That  is  to  say,  man  in  a  lost  state  is 
six  steps  away  from  salvation,  and  every  step  to  be 
taken  in  order  to  reach  it.  No  one  supposes  that 
one,  three  or  five  steps  bring  a  man  to  a  given  point 
when  he  is  six  steps  away.  Nor  does  any  one  sup- 
pose one  step  any  more  or  less  necessary  than  an 
other  in  making  the  trip.  So  in  this  Scripture  they 
are  put  one  after  an  other,  as  if  one  was  as  essential 
as  another.  Nay,  even  the  divine  step,  sending  and 
saving,  are  neither  more  nor  less  necessary  to  be 
observed  than  are  the  human  steps,  preaching, 
hearing,  believing,  and  calling  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord.  The  preaching  depends  on  the  sending ;  the 
hearing  on  the  preaching ;  the  believing  on  the  hear- 
ing ;  the  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord,  on  believ- 
ing ;  and  the  salvation  on  the  calling. 

If  you  do  not  call  you  will  not  be  saved ;  if  you 
do  not  believe  you  will  not  call ;  if  you  do  not  hear 
you  will  not  believe ;  and  if  somebody  does  not 
preach  you  will  not  hear ;  and  they  cannot  preach 


PREACHING. 


146 


except  they  be  sent.  The  divine  steps,  sending  and 
saving,  are  put  both  first  and  last,  as  author  and 
finisher  of  our  salvation.  So  then,  this  Scripture 
yields  unmistakable  proof  of  the  necessity  of 
preaching. 

2.  But  Paul  makes  another  statement  equally 
conclusive,  viz:  "For  after  that  in  the  wisdom  of 
God,  the  world  by  wisdom,  knew  not  God,  it  pleased 
God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching,  to  save  them 
that  believe.  "    (1  Cor.  1:21.) 

To  the  thinking  mind,  this  passage  exhibits  five 
elements  or  links  in  the  process  of  saving  the  sinner. 
1.  God  the  Savior.  2.  Paul  the  preacher.  3.  The 
preaching.  4.  The  believer  produced,  and  5.  His 
salvation. 

Go  around  the  passage  as  we  may,  look  at  it  as 
we  will,  and  preaching  stares  at  us  from  every  angle 
as  a  factor  of  salvation,  as  God's  method  of  exer- 
cising his  "power"  unto  salvation.  Rom.  1:16. 
We  are  wont  to  insist  that  whatever  is  God's 
method,  is  the  true  method,  the  only  method  of  sav- 
ing men.  Any  other  way  must  hopelessly  fail,  un- 
less God  can  be  induced  to  change  his  method  to 
correspond  with  the  whims  of  the  sinner  seeking 
salvation.  And  this  is  not  supposable  in  the  face 
of  the  declaration,  "  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons." 
Therefore,  preaching  is  again  seen  to  be  a  necessary 
force  in  solving  the  problem  of  man's  salvation. 

3.  Still  another  statement  is  made  by  the  Apostle, 

touching  this  matter,  as  though  he  was  fearful  it 

would  not  be  understood.    He  says  God  "has  man- 
10 


146 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ifested  Ms  word  through  preaching. n  Titus  1 : 3. 
If  the  Holy  Spirit  in  some  mysterious  way,  "  takes 
the  things  that  belong  to  God  "  and  applies  them  to 
onr  hearts,  making  known  the  will  of  God,  why 
does  Paul  say  it  is  done  "through  preaching"?  If 
the  word  preached  cannot  he  understood  without 
additional  work  of  the  Spirit,  then  it  is  not  made 
known  through  preaching, hut  made  known — nobody 
knows  how.  And  hence  the  passage  should  simply 
read,  "  Hath  manifested  his  word, "  without  stating 
"through  preaching"  since  that  part  is  incorrect. 
But  we  agree  with  Paul,  modem  teachers  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding,  that  God  has.made  known 
his  word  in  just  that  way.  Now  as  no  man  can 
enter  the  kingdom  of  God  without  doing  his  will, 
Matt.,  7:21  •  and  as  it  must  be  known  before  it  can 
be  done,  and  as  his  word  is  an  exhibition  of  his 
will,  and  that  word  is  made  known  by  preaching, 
therefore  preaching  is  necessary  to  the  salvation  of 
men  under  the  gospel. 

In  harmony  with  this  conclusion  the  following  ex- 
pressions are  striking :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach."  "Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not. " 
"  Preach  the  word. "  "  That  repentance  and  remis- 
sion of  sins  should  be  preached. "  "  He  commanded 
us  to  preach. "    "  For  preaching  of  the  cross    *  * 

*  is  the  power  of  God, "  etc.  Now  unless  preach- 
ing occupies  a  very  high  place  among  the  things 
necessary  to  salvation,  these  expressions  are  with- 
out force. 


PREACHING. 


147 


But  apart  from  the  Scriptures,  we  have  but  to  look 
at  the  oratory  of  men,  and  witness  a  wonderful 
power.  The  fortunes  of  Greece  rose  and  fell  under 
its  magic  power.  The  Roman  Senate  was  a  heaving 
sea  of  oratory,  by  which  measures  were  passed  or 
defeated,  either  good  or  bad.  Preaching  stirred  up 
the  famous  Crusades,  wrecking  kingdoms,  impover- 
ishing vast  territories  and  drinking  the  lives  of  mill- 
ions. The  oratory  of  Wm.  Pitt,  Robert  Emmet, 
Patrick  Henry,  Daniel  Webster  and  Henry  Clay 
was  a  mighty  force  in  determining  the  sentiments  and 
fortunes  of  their  fellow-countrymen.  So  of  preach- 
ing. It  has  determined  the  faith  and  life  throughout 
all  human  history ;  and  out  of  it  has  grown  charac- 
ter on  which  destiny  depends.  It  is  no  wonder  then, 
that  :'By  the  foolishness  of  preaching  God  saves 
those  who  believe. " 

But  it  may  be  claimed  that  preaching  is.  essential 
to  salvation  only  of  the  preacher;  that  when  he  is 
called,  he  must  preach  or  be  lost ;  but  still  denied 
that  his  preaching  saves  anybody  else.  This  is 
frankly  admitted  in  part.  Some  will  shriek,  "  Woe 
is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel !  Sinner,  there  is 
nothing  I  can  do  to  save  you.  God  only  can  do 
that.  It  is  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  that  comes 
down  in  answer  to  prayer,  that  will  save  you,"  etc. 
It  never  occurs  to  them,  that  in  the  gospel,  a  preacher 
could  save  anybody.  And  hence  the  great  display 
of  lung  power  during  which  the  people's  time  is 
taken,  and  their  attention  wholly  given  to  him,  is 
only  for  his  salvation  1   In  such  cases  we  freely 


148 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT, 


admit  that  snch  preaching  saves  nobody,  not  even 
the  preacher.  But  not  so,  if  the  gospel  is  preached. 
A  single  passage  is  sufficient  to  settle  the  question 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  regard  Scripture ;  to  those 
who  do  not,  a  whole  chapter  would  he  of  no  avail. 
It  is  this :  "  Take  heed  unto  thyself,  and  to  the  doc- 
trine ;  continue  in  them ;  for  in  doing  this,  thou  shalt 
both  save  thyself  and  them  that  hear  thee"  I  Tim. 
4.16. 

It  is  clear  then,  that  not  only  is  the  salvation  of 
the  preacher  contemplated  in  preaching,  but  also 
those  who  hear.  Hence  the  necessity  of  preaching 
is  fully  made  out. 

II.  Upon  whom  devolves  the  duty  to  pkeach  ? 
Clearly,  when  preaching  is  seen  to  be  necessary,  a 
preacher  is  required.  A  message  needs  a  messen- 
ger, a  dispatch  a  courier,  and  a  proclamation  a 
proclaimer.  And  whoever  is  a  bearer  of  tidings 
from  God,  has  an  important  message  to  deliver,  and 
is  therefore  an  important  character.  No  more  ex- 
alted position  can  be  occupied  by  mortal,  than  to 
be  put  in  charge  of  a  divine  message,  and  entrusted 
with  its  safe  delivery  to  its  destination.  The  gospel 
is  such  a  message,  and  the  preacher  is  such  a  mes- 
senger. Let  him  be  honored;  let  his  heart  rejoice, 
and  his  tongue  be  glad,  while  he  brings  tokens  of 
love  and  peace  from  the  mightiest  King  in  the  uni- 
verse. 

But  who  is  he  ? 

1.  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Heb.  3:1,  2:4,  Luke  4  : 
18.   He  was  a  teacher  from  God,  Jno.  3  :  1.  His 


PREACHING. 


149 


voice  was  heard  by  mortals.  He  impressed  His 
theme  on  the  minds  of  men,  and  His  spirit  upon 
their  hearts.  But  He  left  the  earth ;  His  voice  is  no 
longer  heard ;  His  form  has  disappeared  from  the 
paths  He  trod,  while  multitudes  thronged  to  hear 
the  heavenly  words  fall  from  His  lips.  Who  now 
will  tell  the  Goo  1  News  ?  Ah !  He  made  provision 
for  that  ere  He  left  the  earth.  He  associated  with 
Him  a  little  band;  warmed  His  spirit  into  their 
souls ;  unfolded  to  their  minds  the  scheme  of  heaven 
for  man's  salvation ;  gave  them  power  to  confirm 
their  word,  and  thus  started  out — 

2.  The  twelve  Apostles.  The  honor  God  gave 
Jesus,  by  sending  Him  on  an  important  mission,  was 
conferred  on  them,  John  17  :  18.  Their  minds  and 
tongues  were  guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  they 
began  a  vigorous  delivery  of  the  message  entrusted 
to  them,  on  the  first  Pentecost  after  Christ's  death 
in  Jerusalem,  where  were  assembled  representatives, 
"  Out  of  every  nation  under  heaven."  They  soon 
spread  the  word  throughout  Judea,  over  into 
Samaria,  and  thence  all  over  the  world,  and  finally 
were  gathered  to  the  grave  leaving  thousands  upon 
thousands  rejoicing  in  the  Gospel  they  had  delivered. 
But  were  the  people  then  living,  the  only  ones,  who 
should  have  God's  offer  of  mercy?  Did  the  little 
work  done  in  the  life-time  of  the  Apostles,  exhaust 
the  divine  clemency?  Must  the  generations  follow- 
ing walk  in  darkness,  while  that  one  rolled  in  the 
wealth  of  divine  communication  ?  If  not,  upon  whom 
falls  the  honor  of  delivering  the  message  to  the  sub- 


150  THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 

sequent  generations?   Unless  it  is  preached  it  will 
not  be  heard;  or  even  if  heard  without  being 
authoritatively  declared,  no  one  could  claim  it  tor 
himself;  and  none  could  authoritatively  declare  it 
unless  charged  with  that  duty.    To  whom  then,  we 
urcre  does  the  honor  of  preaching  the  Gospel  descend? 
We  answer;  to  that  which  was  begotten  through 
•  their  ministry;  that  imperishable  community  (Heb. 
12:28,  Matt.  16:18),  in  which  shall  be  "Glory, 
[honor  by  being  intrusted  with  a  mission  from  (*odJ 
throughout  all  ages."   Eph.3: 21  called- 

3  The  Church.  Not  only  to  the  individuals  com- 
posing it  then,  for  the  work  would  soon  cease,  but 
to  thSse  who  should  compose  it  afterwards— to  us, 
till  the  world  shall  end,  and  all  come  to  judgment. 

To  know  we  are  not  chasing  a  phantom;  that  we 
are  not  aspiring  to  honors  unlawful  and  unattain- 
able let  us  read  the  following  Scriptures.  And 
the  things  thou  hast  heard  of  me  among  many  wit- 
nesses, the  same  commit  thou  to  faithful  men  who 
shall  be  able  to  teach  others  also,  2  Tim.  2  :J 
Again  "For  from  you  sounded  out  the  word  ot  the 
Lord  '  *    *     so  that  we  need  not  speak  anything." 
1  Thess  1-8.    In  these  Scriptures  it  is  unmistakably 
clear  that  the  responsibility  of  preaching,  and  like- 
wise the  honor,  descend  to  those  who  believe  upon 
Apostolic  testimony-the  church.    And  that  the 
work  could  go  right  on  without  the  presence  of  an 
Apostle  being  necessary.   1  Thess.  1  :  8. 

But  this  thought  may  be  further  elaborated  by 
considering  2  :  Cor.  3  :  1-3.    Here  the  church  is  com- 


PREACHING. 


151 


pared  to  a  letter.  This  implies  a  strong  similarity 
in  the  prominent  features  of  each,  especially  the 
elements  mentioned  by  the  Apostle. 

Apart  from  the  fact,  that  a  letter  mnst  have  a 
writer,  must  be  written  with  an  instrument,  and  upon 
something  that  will  retain  and  reflect  the  intelligence 
inscribed  therein,  there  is  a  design,  a  purpose  to  be 
accomplished  beyond  anything  done,  m,  or  to  the 
letter.  It  is  to  be  read.  It  is  to  talk  for  the  writer. 
It  is  to  say  what  he  would  say  were  he  present.  It 
is  a  missionary.  Now  the  church  is  declared  to  be 
the  letter  of  Christ;  the  Apostles,  the  instrument 
with  which  he  wrote  it ;  the  Holy  Spirit,  not  ink,  the 
element  in  which  he  immersed  that  instrument,  and 
the  heart,  the  place  he  inscribed  his  mind,  "  known 
and  read  of  all  men,"  shows  the  legibility  of  his 
writing — the  conspicuity  of  the  church. 

But  in  a  letter,  another  thing  is  true ;  there  is  a 
co-operation  of  all  its  parts  in  the  same  direction. 
Every  letter,  word,  and  line.  Not  one  letter,  even, 
can  be  left  out  without  marring  its  beauty,  and  re- 
flecting on  the  character  of  its  writer.  Nor  can  any 
considerable  portion  bo  detached  without  obscuring 
the  sense ;  and  if  it  steadily  contradict  itself  from 
first  to  last,  no  one  can  leam  from  it  the  mind  of  its 
writer.  So  in  the  church.  The  co-operation  of  all 
its  parts  is  necessary  to  the  intelligent  conviction  of 
the  world. 

If  a  portion  be  separated  from  the  rest,  in  sym- 
pathy, faith  and  practice,  so  that  while  one  division 
asserts  one  thing,  and  another  disputes  it,  the  world 


152 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


will  get  little  sense  from  such  a  letter,  nor  form  a 
very  high  regard  for  its  writer.  The  divided  con- 
dition of  professed  Christians  to-day,  accounts  for 
the  dense  confusion  in  the  world  touching  the  exact 
demands  of  the  gospel,  and  the  skepticism  concern- 
ing it.  We  plead  then,  for  harmonious  co  operation 
in  the  one  thing  at  least,  of  preaching  the  gospel. 
One  God,  one  Faith,  and  one  Body — (the  Church) — 
its  Preacher.  It  is  important  that,  we  remember 
that,  having  honored  by  entrusting  us  with  the  de- 
livery of  heavenly  tidings ;  with  the  power  of  salva- 
tion, exalting  us  to  the  fellowship  of  Christ  and  His 
Apostles,  God  now  holds  us  responsible  for  the  sal- 
vation of  those  who  would  believe,  if  only  they 
could  hear.  Hence,  the  church  may  well  say,  "Woe 
is  me,  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel " !  The  work 
should  be  taken  hold  of  in  the  same  earnestness 
with  which  a  drowning  man  siezes  a  buoy  to  save 
himself  from  perishing ;  and  carried  forward  with 
the  determination  to  make  our  "  calling  and  election 
sure."  We  need  a  plan — perhaps  many  plans — but 
we  need  work  more.  Any  plan  by  which  our  purest, 
best  gifted,  and  talented  members  can  be  put  to,  and 
kept  at  the  work,  will  honor  God,  and  meet  our 
obligation.  The  work  itself  will  suggest  the  plan. 
Discussion  will  never  do  it. 

Then,  brother !  sister !  Do  you  want  to  be  saved  ? 
If  you  do,  "  Take  heed  unto  thyself  and  to  the  doc- 
trine ;  continue  in  them ;  for  in  doing  this,  thou 
shalt  both  save  thyself  and  them  that  hear  thee." 


PEEACHING. 


153 


HI.  What  to  Pkeacti.  "Take  heed  unto  what 
doctrine''?  The  "foolishness  of  preaching,"  does 
not  mean  preaching  foolishness.  It  is  as  dangerous 
to  preach  the  wrong  thing,  as  not  to  preach  at  all. 
"  Though  we  or  an  angel  from  heaven  preach  any 
other  gospel  than  we  have  preached,  let  him  he  ac- 
cursed." Gal.  1  :  8.  This  statement  is  startling,  and 
needs  to  he  well  considered,  lest  the  church,  or  some 
part  thereof  incur  the  curse  of  God.  It  is  impera- 
tive that  we  limit  our  preaching  to  the  gospel,  lest 
we  be  found  delivering  a  message  which  God  will 
not  own ;  or  else  he  guilty  of  keeping  back  part  of 
the  price  of  salvation  as  did  Ananias  in  reference  to 
the  price  of  the  land. 

It  is  sufficient  here  to  state,  that  the  gospel  com- 
mitted to  us,  lies  within  the  limits  of  Apostolic 
preaching.  Its  beginning  is  definitely  fixed.  Heb. 
9  : 17,  Luke  24  :  47,  and  its  end  is  the  close  of  Apos- 
tolic history.  What  they  first  said  must  harmonize 
with  what  they  always  said  to  the  same  characters 
on  the  same  subject,  or  else  there  is  nothing  in  the 
gospel  worthy  of  our  confidence.  For  instance,  if 
Peter  announces  "Repent  and  be  baptized  for  re- 
mission of  sins,"  in  one  place  (Acts  2 : 38.),  and  "Re- 
pent ye  therefore  and  be  converted,  that  your  sins 
may  be  blotted  out,"  in  another  place,  (Acts  3  :19) 
he  must  be  understood  as  meaning  the  same  thing 
each  time.  Otherwise  there  is  confusion.  Is  remis- 
sion of  sins  offered  to  one,  on  different  terms  than  to 
another?  No.  But  remission  of  sins  is  offered  in 
both  instances,  and  hence  the  same  terms  are  stip- 


154 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ulated  each  time.  And  so  on  all  through  their 
career.  What  we  need  then,  is  not  to  preach  our 
speculations  about  the  gospel,  hut  preach  it ;  not 
about  Christ,  but  preach  Mm ;  not  preach  about  the 
Bible,  but  preach  it ;  not  preach  doctrines,  but  the 
gospel',  not  preach  the  church,  but  Christ;  not 
preac  h  the  way  to  hell,  but  to  heaven ;  not  the  way 
to  be  condemned,  but  the  way. to  be  saved ;  not  what 
has  become  of  those  who  are  dead,  but  what  will  be- 
come of  those  who  are  living.  Stick  to  Apostolic 
preaching  at  all  hazards !  Whatever  is  more,  is 
too  much,  whatever  is  less  is  too  little,  and  what- 
ever is  different  is  wrong.  No  rivalry  here  is  al- 
lowed. The  gospel  preached  by  the  Apostles  was 
not  their  own ;  nor  is  it  ours,  it  is  Christ's.  Let  it 
be  faithfully  proclaimed,  "  lest  we  fail  of  the  grace  of 
God." 

IV.  The  Aim  and  Object  of  Preaching. 

1.  It  is  the  avenue  through  which  the  "  Kindness 
and  love  of  God  is  made  known."  (Titus  3 : 4.)  By 
which  are  enkindled  in  the  human  heart,  forces  which 
work  out  the  problem  of  human  happiness. 

2.  It  is  to  dispel  and  drive  back  the  clouds  of  ig- 
norance, doubt  and  despair  from  the  human  heart, 
which  otherwise  hang  over  it,  and  despoil  it  of  its 
glorious  attainments. 

3.  It  is  to  establish  the  people  in  the  right  and 
prepare  them  for  "  Obedience  to  the  faith,"  (Rom. 
16  :  25,  26.)  out  of  which  come  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  the  nations. 


PREACHING. 


155 


4.  It  is  to  nnite  the  children  of  men  into  one 
"brotherhood,  and  conserve  all  their  powers  for  the 
overthrow  of  wrong,  and  up-building  of  the  right; 
to  make  of  "  One  heart  and  of  one  soul  the  mul- 
titude of  them  that  believe."  By  which  the  hungry 
will  he  fed ;  the  naked  and  freezing  clothed  and 
warmed ;  the  fainting  encouraged ;  the  feeble  sup- 
ported ;  the  fallen  lifted  up ;  the  mourning  com- 
forted; the  "fatherless  and  widows"  relieved  of 
their  afflictions  ;  employment  given  to  the  redeemed, 
and  life  brought  to  the  dying. 

Oh  what  a  scheme  of  mercy !  Put  yourself  by 
the  side  of  the  Savior  when  he  <i;ave  his  commission. 
Look  with  him  over  the  world,  look  on  down  over 
the  ages.  Behold  man  in  darkness;  wrapped  in 
sin ;  bowing  before  images  of  his  own  manufacture ; 
pleading  with  a  stone,  a  piece  of  wood,  a  dumb  idol 
for  life !  Hear  him  cry !  See  him  lacerate  himself 
and  shriek,  that  the  sympathy  of  the  dumb  thing 
may  be  reached  !  But  no  response.  His  hope  still 
slumbers.  The  shadow  of  death  draws  around  him, 
and  the  carnival  of  wretchedness  is  complete.  Is  it 
any  wonder  the  Savior's  heart  is  touched?  That 
He  says  "  Go !  Tell  your  fellow-man  there  is  life, 
there  is  God,  there  is  hope,  there  is  heaven  ?"  Then 

"Shout  the  tidings  of  salvation 
To  the  aged  and  the  young; 
Till  the  precious  invitation 
Waken  every  heart  and  tongue. 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Shout  the  tidings  of  salvation 
O'er  the  prairies  of  the  West, 

Till  each  gathering  congregation 
With  the  gospel  sound  is  blest. 

Shout  the  tidings  of  salvation 
Mingling  with  the  ocean's  roar, 

Till  the  ships  of  every  nation 
Bear  the  news  from  shore  to  shore. 

Shout  the  tidings  of  salvation 
O'er  the  islands  of  the  sea, 

Till  in  humble  adoration, 
All  to  Christ  shall  bow  the  knee.'* 


G.  L.  BROKAW 


EORGE  LEWIS  BROKAW  was  born  of  Aaron  S.  and 
Lydia  A.  Brokaw,  July  18,  1849,  in  Bureau  County  Illi- 
nois. Was  converted  in  a  meeting  held  by  N.  A. 
McConnell,  and  G.  W.  Mapes,  when  eighteen  years  of 
age,  and  baptized  by  A.  Ross. 

He  began  preaching  about  one  year  afterward ; 
taught  school  for  a  time  ;  attended  Abingdon  College, 
preaching  on  Sundays  and  holding  some  meetings  during  his 
course  there.  He  graduated  in  June,  1873;  preached  at  Dana 
and  Rutland,  Illinois,  until  March,  1874,  when  he  went  to  Lie- 
comb,  Iowa,  and  preached  three  years  in  Marshall  and  Story 
Counties. 

In  May,  1876,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mat  tie  H.  Wilson,  daugh- 
ter ol'H.  H.  Wilson,  of  Liscomb,  Iowa;  and  in  a  few  months 
removed  to  Roseville,  Illinois,  filling  the  pulpit  there  three 
years;  and  also  that  of  New  Bedford,  (vacated  by  J.  H.  Painter) 
simultaneously  during  two  years.  From  thence  he  went  to 
Monroe,  Wis.  Preached  for  the  church  there  one  year  and  was 
then  made  Evangelist  of  the  State,  under  the  employ  of  the 
G.  C.  M.  C,  in  conjunction  with  the  W.  C.  M.  C,  which  posi- 
tion he  held  for  nearly  three  years;  when  he  resigned  and 
removed  to  Liscomb,  Iowa,  his  present  home. 

In  1883  he  was  selected  as  one  of  the  State  Evangelists  for 
Iowa,  and  entered  upon  the  work  in  October,  which  position  he 
holds  at  this  writing.  In  personal  appearance  he  is  about  five 
feet  eight  inches  in  height ;  weighs  140  pounds ;  dark  hair ;  keen 
black  eyes  ;  dresses  faultlessly  and  is  quite  presentable  in  ap- 
pearance. He  is  earnest,  energetic  and  untiring  in  his  work; 
genial  and  obliging  among  his  fellow-workers,  and  a  staunch 
friend  of  missionary  enterprises.  Being  in  the  prime  of  life, 
and  enjoying  good  health,  with  a  fair  natural  ability,  and  a 
reasonable  education,  we  shall  confidently  expect  much  valua- 
ble service  bv  him  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Master. 

157 


THE  ROYAL  PRIESTHOOD. 


G.  L.  BKOKAW. 


"Ye  are  a  royal  priesthood."— 1st  Pet.  2  :  9. 

fN  the  Old  Testament  we  have  types  and  sym- 
bols pointing  forward  to  the  permanent 
thing  in  the  new  and  everlasting  dispensa- 
tion. These  types  and  symbols  help  us  to  a 
better  understanding  of  the  New  Testament. 
They  point  forward  to  things  to  come  and  generally 
to  good  things  to  come. 

The  Jewish  priesthood  is  a  type  of  the  Christian 
priesthood.  The  likeness  is  but  partial,  and  we 
should  exercise  great  care  and  not  press  it  beyond 
its  proper  limits.  According  to  the  law  of  Moses, 
there  were  two  classes  of  priests ;  the  high  priests 
and  the  common  priests. 

The  high  priest  is  a  type  of  Christ.  He,  alone 
was  allowed  to  enter  into  the  "  most  holy  place  "  in 
the  tabernacle  and  the  temple. 

Christ,  our  High  Priest,  has  entered  once  for  all 
into  the  "most  holy  place,"  into  heaven  itself,  now 
to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us.  The  High 
Priests  under  the  law  were  continually  changing  by 

159 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


reason  of  death.  There  is  to  be  no  change  in  our 
High  Priest,  for  Christ  ever  liveth  at  the  right  hand 
of  God  to  make  intercession  for  ns.  He  is  a  priest 
forever  after  the  power  of  an  endless  life.  How- 
thankful  we  should  be  that  we  have  such  a  merciful 
and  faithful  High  Priest,  "  a  daysman  to  stand  be- 
twixt us  and  God  and  lay  his  hand  upon  both."  He 
hears  our  cry  for  assistance,  and  knows  our  needs, 
and  sympathizes  with  us  in  our  trials,  and  is  able 
to  save  eternally  those  who  obey  him. 

The  common  priest  is  a  type  of  the  Christian. 
All  Christians  are  priests.  Not  the  preacher  alone; 
not  the  brothers  alone,  but  the  sisters  as  well,  are 
royal  priests  unto  God. 

The  Bilile  does  not  teach  that  the  priest  is  a  type 
of  a  certain  class  in  the  church  called  "Reverends," 
"  Clergymen,"  ''Ministers  of  the  Gospel,"  "  Parsons," 
or  "Priests."  The  division  into  "laity"  and 
"  clerg}T "  is  not  found  in  the  oracles  of  God.  Peter, 
in  addressing  all  the  followers  of  Christ,  "  who  have 
been  begotten  again  unto  a  living  hope  by  the  res- 
urrection of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,"  calls  them 
a  royal  priesthood.  He  did  not  write  his  letter  to 
the  preachers  alone.  All  who  had  obtained  like 
precious  faith  were  known  as  priests.  John,  in  ad- 
dressing all  the  followers  of  Christ  in  the  world, 
who  had  been  redeemed  from  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  and  had  been  "washed  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,"  calls  them  "Kings  and  priests  unto  God." 

If  all  the  members  of  the  body  of  Christ  are  priests 
then,  we  may  reasonably  demand  that  the  other 


THE  ROYAL  PRIESTHOOD. 


161 


members  live  exemplary  lives  as  well  as  the  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel.  The  demand  for  personal  piety 
of  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  is  universal  and  it  is 
righteous.  It  shows  what  value  the  world  places 
upon  Christianity. 

If  all  the  members  of  the  body  of  Christ  are 
priests,  then  we  may  reasonably  demand  that  the 
other  members  "  bring  up  their  children  in  the  nur- 
ture and  admonition  of  the  Lord  "  as  well  as  those 
who  preach  the  gospel  from  the  pulpit.  "When  we 
get  the  world  to  watching  other  people's  children, 
they  will  be  convinced  that  the  old  saying, 
"  preacher's  children  are  the  worst  children  in  the 
world,"  is  not  true.  They  will  discover  that  the 
opposite  of  that,  is  nearer  the  truth,  and  will  be 
stimulated  to  greater  exertion  in  their  effort  to  lead 
the  children  in  that  way,  that  shineth  brighter  and 
brighter  unto  the  perfect  day. 

As  priests  we  all  have  teen  called.    According  to 

the  law  a  certain  class  among  the  Jews  were  called 

to  be  priests.    They  must  be  of  the  tribe  of  Levi, 

and  of  the  family  of  Aaron.    Those  of  any  other 

tribe  could  not  officiate  as  priests.    They  must  be 

willing  in  order  to  offer  acceptable  service  unto  the 

Lord.    They  must  be  thirty  years  of  age  before  they 

could  be  priests.    They  must  be  without  blemish  in 

order  to  be  priests.    They  must  be  free  from  all 

physical  impurities,  infirmities  and  imperfections. 

If  one  had  lost  an  arm,  or  a  hand,  or  a  finger  he 

could  not  be  a  priest.    The  halt  and  the  maimed 

and  the  blind  were  excluded  from  this  honored 
11 


162 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


class.    The  leprous  man  and  the  man  with  a  running 

issue  were  excluded.  Some  aspiring  and  ambitious 
men  from  other  tribes  and  families  tried  to  break 
the  force  of  this  law  concerning  the  priesthood,  but 
God's  judgments  on  Korah,Dathan  and  Abiram  for- 
ever settled  the  question  who  were  to  be  priests  of 
Jehovah  under  the  law. 

Under  the  law  of  Christ  we  find  no  such  restric- 
tions as  are  found  under  the  law  of  Moses. 
He  has  invited  the  poor  and  the  needy,  the  halt  and 
the  maimed  and  the  blind  to  come.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  belong  to  a  certain  tribe  or  family  or  nation 
in  order  to  be  saved.  God  hath  called  men  from 
every  tribe  and  nation,  from  every  land  and  people. 
"  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men 
for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,"  and  hath 
given  them  all  the  power  to  seek  the  Lord  and  find 
him.    (Acts  17:26,  27.) 

We  need  not  wait  until  we  are  thirty  years  of 
age.  This  restriction  concerning  the  priests  teaches 
us  that  infants  are  not  required  to  enter  the  new 
covenant  until  they  are  old  enough  to  know  and 
serve  the  Lord.  The  question  has  often  been  asked, 
"How  old  must  children  be  in  order  that  they  may  be 
baptized  and  become  members  of  Christ's  body  ? " 
The  law  of  the  Master  does  not  specify  the  age  at 
which  the  little  ones  may  be  received.  Their  fitness 
for  membership  is  not  determined  by  the  age.  Some 
may  be  old  enough  at  ten,  others  not  until  nearly 
twice  that  age.  The  spirit  calls  them  as  soon  as 
they  "  know  the  Lord. "   If  the  child  does  not  know 


THE  KOYAL  PKUESTHOOD. 


163 


the  Lord  lie  is  not  ready  to  enter,  for  "  all  shall 
know  him  from  the  least  unto  the  greatest.  " 

Why  should  any  one  doubt  that  he  has  been 
called  when  the  gospel  is  so  plain  ?  It  is  surprising 
that  any  person  with  an  open  Bible  would  wait  for 
a  "  special  call  from  the  Lord."  It  is  also  queer 
that  any  one  will  puzzle  his  brain  over  the  theory 
that  "  God  has  from  all  eternity  foreordained  that  a 
certain  part  of  the  human  family  should  be  lost  and 
a  certain  part  should  be  saved,  and  the  number  is 
so  definite  and  fixed  that  it  can  neither  be  increased 
or  diminished,"  and  then  wait  and  wonder  whether 
he  is  one  of  the  called  of  God  or  not. 

Is  there  a  reader  in  doubt  ?  Are  you  not  certain 
that  you  have  been  called  to  be  a  royal  priest,  a 
child  of  God?  If  you  are  not  satisfied  with  your 
call,  read  now  and  be  convinced  that  Jehovah  calls 
you.  Isaiah,  looking  forward  to  the  beginning  of 
the  everlasting  dispensation,  writes  the  gospel  call. 
He  says :  "Ho  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to 
the  waters,  and  he  that  hath  no  money ;  come  ye, 
buy,  and  eat;  yea,  come,  and  buy  wine  and  milk 
without  money  and  without  price."  "  Seek  ye  the 
Lord  while  he  may  be  found,  call  ye  upon  him  while 
he  is  near :  let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way  and  the 
unrighteous  man  his  thoughts ;  and  let  him  return 
unto  the  Lord  and  he  will  have  mercy  upon  him ; 
and  to  our  God  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon." 
The  Savior  extends  to  you  now  the  precious  invita- 
tion :  "  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.    Take  my 


164 


THIS  IOWA  PULPIT. 


yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your 
souls.  For  my  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  is 
light."  The  Spirit  calls  you  now  to  come.  He  in- 
spires heavens  last  invitation  in  the  last  book  of  the 
Bible.  "  He  that  hath  an  ear  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  to  the"  unconverted. 

What  have  you  now  to  say  of  this  call  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  ?  Will  you  accept  or  wait  for  a  more 
convenient  day? 

"  Seems  now  some  soul  to  say, 
'  Go,  Spirit,  go  thy  way  ; 

Some  more  convenient  day 

On  thee  I'll  call.'  " 

Jesus,  the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David,  and  the 
bright  and  morning  star  says  come.  The  Spirit  and 
the  bride  say  come.  All  are  calling  tenderly,  calling 
lovingly,  and  saying:  "  Whosover  will  may  come." 
None  should  hesitate  to  accept,  but  all  should  be 
thankful  that  we  have  been  invited  to  become  kings 
and  priests  unto  God. 

As  priests  we  have  all  been  consecrated.  The 
Jewish  priests  were  consecrated  when  they  entered 
upon  their  work.  The  law  prescribed  the  ceremon- 
ies necessary  to  their  consecration.  They  were 
brought  to  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  and  their 
bodies  were  washed  with  water.  Then  the  blood  of 
the  "  Earn  of  Consecration"  was  sprinkled  upon 
their  right  ear  to  sanctify  their  ears  for  hearing ;  on 


THE  ROYAL  PRIESTHOOD. 


165 


the  thumb  of  the  right  hand  to  sanctify  their  hands 
for  serving ;  and  on  the  great  toe  of  the  right  foot  to 
sanctify  their  feet  for  treading  the  couits  of  Jehovah. 
This  consecration  had  to  be  performed  but  once,  and 
it  is  a  type  of  the  consecration  of  the  Christian.  We 
can  see  beauty  and  reason  in  these  ceremonies, 
when  we  remember  that  they  are  external  signs  and 
symbols  given  to  indicate  that  purity  of  heart  which 
is  necessary  in  order  to  enjoy  God.  Paul  refers  to 
the  consecration  of  the  priests  in  Hebrews  10:22. 
He  sees  the  ceremonies  performed.  He  sees  the 
priest  draw  near  to  enter  upon  his  duties.  He  says: 
"Let  us  (Christian,  priests)  draw  near  (as  the  priest 
draws  near  to  the  sanctuary)  with  a  true  heart,  (we 
must  serve  the  Lord  with  our  hearts,  our  affections, 
as  well  as  our  minds)  in  full  assurance  of  faith  (we 
must  come  in  faith  or  we  cannot  please  God)  having 
our  hearts  sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience  (in  do- 
ing the  will  of  the  Lord  we  know  that  we  are  ac- 
cepted and  our  consciences  are  clear)  and  our  bodies 
washed  with  pure  water  (when  we  are  buried  with 
Christ  by  baptism  our  bodies  are  washed  with  pure 
water)." 

There  is  no  room  for  a  Christian  to  doubt  his  con- 
secration to  the  Lord  or  his  acceptance.  We  come 
in  faith  and  obey  from  the  heart  that  form  of  doc- 
trine whereunto  we  are  delivered  and  consecrate  our 
bodies  as  well  as  our  spirits  unto  the  Lord  and 
know  that  we  are  accepted  because  we  have  come 
according  to  the  instructions  of  Heaven's  King. 

The  whole  man  is  surrendered  to  the  service  of  the 


166 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


master.  We  are  to  present  our  bodies  a  living  sacri- 
fice, wholly  acceptable  unto  God,  which  is  our  reason- 
able service.  We  are  to  glorify  God  in  our  bodies 
and  in  our  spirits  which  are  His.  This  is  one  rea- 
son why  Jesus  said:  "  Teach  all  nations  immersing 
them."  The  body  is  to  be  put  beneath  the  yielding 
wave,  is  to  be  wholly  consecrated  to  His  service. 
The  Indian  chieftain  did  not  want  his  right  arm  bap- 
tized. He  understood  the  Christian  religion  to  teach 
us  to  "  love  our  enemies."  and  he  wanted  one  mem- 
ber of  his  body  unbaptized,  unconsecrated,  that  he 
might  be  at  liberty,  when  occasion  demanded,  to 
smite  his  enemies  with  that  right  arm.  Our  right 
arms  are  to  be  baptized  and  surrendered  to  the  Lord 
as  well  as  all  the  other  members  of  our  body.  When 
the  other  students  were  presenting  their  presents  to 
Socrates,  the  wise  philosopher,  the  young  man  who 
had  nothing  else  to  give,  gave  himself,  the  grandest 
and  best  gift  he  could  possibly  present.  We  give 
ourselves  to  Christ  and  do  all  we  can  to  glorify  His 
Matchless  Name. 

Those  who  were  consecrated  to  the  Jewish  priest- 
hood wore  a  peculiar  dress  which  distinguished 
them  from  all  others.  When  the  High  Priest  passed 
along,  the  people  saw  the  seamless  robe,  with  its 
seventy-two  tassels,  made  of  blue,  and  purple,  and 
scarlet,  and  its  seventy-two  golden  bells.  They  sa"v* 
on  his  shoulders  the  onyx  stones  on  which  were  en- 
graved the  names  of  the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob  accord- 
ed 

ing  to  their  birth.  They  saw  the  breastplate  and  on 
it  the  name  "  Urim  and  Thummim."    They  saw  the 


THE  ROYAL  PRIESTHOOD. 


167 


plate  of  gold  on  which  was  written  "Holiness  to 
Jehovah,"  and  they  knew  he  was  their  High  Priest 
for  he  was  distinguished  from  all  others  by  the  dress 
he  wore. 

The  Christian  is  to  be  distinguished  by  his  dress 
from  all  others.  It  is  not  the  dress  of  the  "  outward 
man  "  which  is  to  mark  him  as  a  priest.  It  is  not 
by  a  peculiar  cap  or  unfashionable  coat  that  he  is  to 
be  known  and  read  of  all  men,  but  by  the  adorning 
of  the  "inner  man."  I  made  inquiry  of  a  friend,  a 
member  of  a  certain  religious  body,  why  their  mem- 
bers all  dressed  in  that  peculiar  style.  The  answer 
was:  "We  do  it  so  as  to  separate  ourselves  from 
others.  You  know  the  Bible  says  His  people  are 
to  be  a  peculiar  people,  and  we  show  to  the  world 
that  we  are  His  people  by  this  peculiar  outward 
dress  I  " 

The  Lord  looks  not  upon  the  outward  appearance 
but  upon  the  heart.  Peter  tells  of  the  adorning  of 
the  priceless  jewel,  the  imperishable  spirit.  He 
says  :  "Whose  adorning,  let  it  not  be  that  outward 
adorning  of  plaiting  of  the  hair  and  of  wearing  of 
gold  and  of  putting  on  apparel.  But  let  it  be  the 
hidden  man  of  the  heart,  in  that  which  is  not  cor- 
ruptible, even  the  adorning  of  a  meek  and  quiet 
spirit,  which  is  in  the  sight  of  God,  of  great  price." 
1  Peter  3 : 3. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  outward 
man  perishes,  the  beauty  of  this  grand  temple  in 
which  the  spirit  dwells  fades  away ;  but  the  inner 
man  is  renewed  day  by  day.    The  body,  the  cor-. 


168 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ruptible  body  moulders  back  to  dust ;  but  the  spirit, 
the  imperishable  spirit,  never  dissolves.  The  Bible 
speaks  of  the  incorruptible  God  who  is  from  ever- 
lasting to  everlasting;  the  incorruptible  kingdom 
which  will  never  fall ;  the  incorruptible  crown  which 
never  fades  away  ;  and  the  incorruptible  King,  the 
King  eternal,  immortal  and  invisible.  It  also  speaks 
of  the  imperishable  spirit.  Shall  we  not  give  heed 
to  infallible  instruction  and  adorn  the  imperishable? 
Shall  we  not  be  "  clothed  in  white  robes,  which  is 
the  righteousness  of  the  saints?" 

The  Jewish  priest  had  duties  to  perform  and 
blessings  and  privileges  to  enjoy.  We  see  him  enter 
into  the  sanctuary.  He  approaches  that  golden 
candlestick,  which  was  beaten  out  of  a  talent  of 
pure  gold,  with  its  seven  branches,  all  ornamented 
with  "  bowls,  knops  and  flowers."  He  trims  it  and 
feeds  it  with  pure  olive  oil,  that  it  may  be  continu- 
ally giving  light  to  that  room.  We  see  him  ap- 
proach the  Table  of  shew-bread  and  remove  the 
twelve  loaves  every  Sabbath  day,  and  place  thereon 
twelve  new  loaves.  We  see  him  approach  that  altar 
of  incense,  made  of  achaia  wood,  and  overlaid  with 
gold.  He  places  thereon  his  offering  which  ascends 
as  sweet  incense  before  the  throne  of  God. 

The  Christian  has  duties  to  perform  and  privileges 
and  blessings  to  enjoy.  He  opens  and  studies  the 
Blessed  Bible.  He  looks  upon  it  as  the  Golden  Can- 
delabrum, the  spiritual  light  to  the  man  of  God, 
the  lamp  unto  his  feet  and  the  light  for  his  pathway. 
It  presents  Christ  to  him  as  "  the  way  and  the  truth 


THE  KOYAL  PRIESTHOOD. 


169 


and  the  life."  He  recognizes  its  seven  grand  divis- 
ions. He  sees  the  gospels  as  the  center,  presenting 
Christ  as  the  person  in  whom  his  faith  is  to  center. 
He  sees  that  "  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  and  the 
Psalms "  lead  us  to  the  Messiah  who  was  to  come. 
He  sees  that  the  Acts  of  Apostles  and  Letters  to 
Christians  and  Book  of  Revelation  point  back  to 
Christ  and  he  knows  that  Christ  is  the  Alpha  and 
the  Omega.  He  knows  the  value  of  the  Word  of 
God  and  can  fervently  say : 

"  I'll  not  give  up  the  Bible, 
God's  holy  book  of  truth, 
The  blessed  staff  of  hoary  age 
The  guide  of  early  youth." 

As  the  Jewish  priest  came  to  the  Table  of  shew- 
bread  on  the  Sabbath  day,  so  the  Christian  comes 
to  the  Lord's  table  on  the  Lord's  day  and  par- 
takes of  the  one  loaf  in  grateful  remembrance  of  the 
death  of  Christ  for  him. 

As  the  Jewish  priest  came  to  the  altar  of  incense, 
so  the  Christian  comes  boldly  to  the  throne  of  grace 
to  offer  up  his  spiritual  sacrifice  to  God.  He  has 
been  taught  that  it  is  his  privilege  to  come  to  the 
throne  of  grace,  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  offer  his 
thanksgiving  and  his  adoration,  his  sweet  songs  of 
Zion  and  his  petitions  and  that  God  hear  him.  He 
lias  the  privilege  of  interceding  for  himself  and  for 
others.  He  is,  himself,  a  priest  and  need  not  despair 
if  he  can  find  no  white  robed  priest  to  intercede  for 
him. 


170 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


The  Christian  President,  Garfield,  lay  dying  near 
the  beautiful  sea.  During  those  eighty  days  of  in- 
tense suffering,  no  minister  of.  the  gospel  was  allowed 
to  see  him  and  converse  with  him  concerning  his 
spiritual  wants.  The  doctors  said  they  would  not 
allow  them  to  enter  his  room.  The  pastor  of  the 
church  of  Christ  in  Washington,  of  which  the  Presi- 
dent was  a  member,  saw  him  but  once  and  was  not 
permitted  to  talk  with  him  but  a  few  moments. 
Many  said  it  was  wrong  to  keep  away  those  who 
could  give  spiritual  consolation.  Some  said  the 
doctors  were  hard  hearted ;  others  called  them  infi- 
dels. The  President  offered  no  complaint.  He 
knew  that  he  had  been  consecrated  a  Royal  Priest 
in  his  youth  and  that  he  could  offer  his  petition  and 
be  heard.  How  insignificant  was  all  the  pomp,  the 
parade,  the  honors,  the  fame  of  human  greatness 
compared  with  this.  He  knew  also  that  his  patient 
Christian  wife  had  been  consecrated  as  God's  child 
and  had  the  right  to  bow  in  the  chamber  of  the 
suffering  one  and  worship  God  who  still  reigns  in 
heaven  and  say :  "  Thy  will  be  done." 

"Blest  inhabitants  of  Zion, 
Washed  in  the  Redeemer's  blood, 
Jesus,  whom  their  souls  rely  on, 
Makes  them  kings  and  priests  to  God, 
'Tis  His  love  His  people  raises 
With  himself  to  reign  as  kings  ; 
And,  as  priests,  His  solemn  praises 
Each  for  a  thank  offering  brings." 


THE  ROYAL  PRIESTHOOD.  171 

What  a  high  position  we  are  called  upon  to  oc- 
cupy before  the  world !  There  is  nothing  degrading 
in  becoming  a  Christian,  in  consecrating  ourselves 
to  the  service  of  the  King  of  Kings  and  the  Lord  of 
Lords.  The  citizen  of  the  Roman  Empire  felt  highly 
honored  because  of  his  position.  He  said  :  "  To  be 
a  Roman  citizen  was  greater  than  a  king."  Wt  are 
more  highly  honored  when  we  accept  the  invitation 
and  become  citizens  of  the  Empire  of  Jehovah. 
Who  can  command  language  to  express,  who  has 
powers  of  mind  to  conceive  of  the  high  honors  con- 
ferred upon  the  child  of  God?  "Jesus  hath  a 
name  which  is  above  every  name ;  that  at  the  name 
of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven, 
and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth; 
and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  Lord  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father  ;  " 
and  we,  His  children,  have  a  name  which  affiliates 
us  with  all  that  is  grand  and  pure  and  holy  in  the 
whole  universe.  Shall  we  not  join  in  saying: 
"Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  to  receive 
power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and 
honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing.  For  thou  wast 
slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood 
out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and 
nation ;  and  hast  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto 
God." 

A  prince  of  royal  blood  and  a  child  of  poor 
parents  were  playing  together.  The  little  prince 
boasted  that  he  belonged  to  a  royal  family.  He 
claimed  that  a  number  of  his  relatives  were  kings 


172 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


and  queens,  and  others  were  lords  and  princes.  The 
poor  child  replied  that  he  had  heard  his  father  say 
that  he  belonged  to  a  family  who  were  all  kings. 
His  father  was  a  Christian.  Let  us  endeavor  to  he 
worthy  of  the  high  position  to  which  we  have  been 
called,  and  ever  be  thankful  to  Him  who  hath  done 
so  Diuch  for  us,  and  live  and  labor  to  persuade 
others  to  become  identified  with  the  Royal  Priest- 
hood. 


ROBERT  E.  SWARTZ. 


ROBERT  EMMETT  SWARTZ. 


OBERT  EMMETT  S  WARTZ  was  born  at  Bloomington, 

Illinois,  December 24, 1850.  At  the  age  of  five  years 
his  father  removed  to  Westport,  Missouri,  where  in 
the  spring  of  1865  Robert  E.  completed  an  academical 
course  under  C.  C.  Huffaker,  a  prominent  educator  of 
the  West.  In  the  aHitumn  of  1864  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Baptist  church,  and  a  year  after  removed 
to  a  farm  in  Vernon  County,  Missouri.  He  was  contemplating 
the  study  of  law,  with  the  purpose  of  becoming  a  lawyer,  but  in 
the  spring  of  1870  he  united  with  the  Disciples  and  entered  the 
Bible  College  of  Kentucky  University,  in  September  of  the 
same  year. 

After  spending  two  years  there  he  began  preaching  in  July, 

1872  in  the  vicinity  of  his  country  home.  During  the  first  year, 
while  laboring  at  his  own  charges,  two  churches  were  estab- 
lished and  are  prospering  at  the  present  time.    In  November, 

1873  he  was  called  to  labor  with  the  church  at  Ft.  Scott,  Kansas, 
where  he  preached  with  fine  success  for  about  two  years.  And 
in  June,  1875  took  charge  of  the  church  at  Adel,  Iowa,  where, 
within  eighteen  months,  ninety-nine  names  were  added  to  the 
membership.  He  was  next  called  to  labor  with  the  church  at 
Rock  Island,  Illinois,  where  his  labors  were  attended  with 
results  gratifying  to  the  people  among  whom  he  labored. 

In  the  spring  of  1880  he  was  called  to  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  was 
with  them  one  year  and  nursed  them  through  the  most  critical 
period  of  their  history,  when  he  again  returned  to  Iowa  and 
took  charge  of  the  work  at  Cedar  Rapids,  his  present  field  of 
labor.    Under  his  labors  here  the  church  has  grown  from  a 

173 


174 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


handful  to  over  one  hundred,  and  has  built  one  of  the  finest 
edifices  in  the  State.  In  addition  to  that  no  church  gives  more, 
in  proportion  to  its  members,  for  State  and  foreign  missions, 
than  does  Cedar  Rapids. 

Bro.  Swartz  was  married  to  Miss  Ella  F.  Hamilton,  of  Tiffin, 
Johnson  County,  Iowa,  November  8th,  1877,  who  is  a  valuable 
helper  in  his  ministerial  labors.  He  is  about  five  feet  eight 
inches  high  ;  light  build  ;  weighs  about  146  pounds ;  brown  hair 
and  eyes ;  pleasant  address ;  suave  and  cultured  manners, 
working  easily  into  the  graces  of  the  people ;  a  careful  student 
and  good  thinker  ;  takes  great  pains  to  adapt  his  sermons  to 
the  needs  of  the  times,  and  to  have  them  in  good  shape  before 
delivering  them ;  and  is  a  tender,  energetic  and  vigilant  pastor. 


THE  SERIOUSNESS  OF  THE  DISCIPLES' 

MISSION. 


BY  K,  E.  SWARTZ. 


"  Be  ye  therefore  sober  and  watch  unto  prayer." — 1  Peter  4:7. 

HE  Aaronic  priesthood  was  called :  the  Chris- 
tian priesthood  is  not  only  called  but  sent. 
The  former  had  a  service,  the  latter  has  a 
mission.  All  the  social  and  religious  asso- 
tions  of  Israel  clustered  around  the  priestly 
office.  Its  influence  upon  the  sentimental  life  of  the 
nation  was  marvelous.  The  instinctive  sympathy 
of  human  nature  found  its  inspiration  in  the  physical 
perfections  of  the  high  priest  Patriotism,  grat- 
itude, hope  and  joy  quickened  and  grew  under  the 
influence  of  the  national  feasts.  Even  the  law 
which  held  in  restraint  the  lower  energies  of  life 
derived  its  power  from  and  was  dependent  upon  the 
permanence  of  the  priesthood.  In  much  the  same 
way  do  we  find  the  emotions  of  the  Christian  heart 
radiating  from  him  who  is  the  great  High  Priest  of 
our  confession.  It  is  evident  that  all  spiritual  purity 
that  blooms  in  the  disciple's  soul  must  come  from 
one  "  who  is  holy,  harmless  and  undefiled."  That 
hope  which  is  the  chief  of  all  hopes,  to-wit,  the 
promise  of  immortality  rests  upon  the  word  of  Jesus 
and  his  resurrection  from  the  dead.    The  joy  which 


176 


THE  IOWA  PtJLPIT. 


fills  onr  hearts  comes  from  hearing  trie  voice  of  the 
bridegroom,  and  our  devotion  is  strengthened  by  con- 
templating hft  wonderful  life.  In  the  enjoyment  of 
his  fellowship,  a  fellowship  akin  to  that  which  Jesus 
had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was,  we  must 
not  forget  that  there  are  many  causes  for  serious 
thought  to  him,  who  after  Jesus  goes  forth  seeking 
to  save  the  lost.  This  is  undoubtedly  implied  by 
the  text,  and  our  personal  observation  I  presume 
will  confirm  the  thought. 

If  we  were  asked  why  should  the  Christian's  life 
be  filled  with  serious  feeling,  we  would  answer  that 
those  profound  mysteries  which  hang  around  the 
borders  of  the  unseen  world  ought  to  hush  our 
thoughtless  tongues,  and  subdue  our  hearts  in  the 
fear  of  God. 

We  may  consider  the  hidden  life  in  the  beating 
bioplasm,  the  marvelous  variations  of  this  vital 
power  in  the  animal  world,  the  rushing  current  of 
human  energy,  the  throbbings  of  human  emotions. 
There  is  the  whole  course  of  history  where  nations 
rise  and  fall  like  the  billows  of  the  sea,  and  yet  no 
one  can  tell  whence  they  came  nor  whither  they  go. 
There  is  birth,  maturity,  decay  and  death,  while 
through  all  these  the  process  of  life  is  at  last 
wrapped  in  the  shroud  of  the  dead.  Above  and  be- 
yond this  lies  the  mystery  of  the  divine  life  engrafted 
upon  the.  soul.  It  is  a  life  as  real  as  the  flesh  life, 
yet  a  power  not  subject  to  earth  laws.  It  is  not 
without  feeling,  yet  it  is  not  a  sense  life.  It  has  its 
birth  and  growth,  but  there  is  no  decay  nor  death- 


SERIOUSNESS  OF  THE  DISCIPLES'  MISSION.  177 

It  subdues  human  action,  illumines  the  spirit,  trans- 
forms the  character,  purifies  the  affections  and 
morals,  it  is  the  Grod-life  incarnate  in  human  beings. 
How  wonderful  are  these  notes  in  the  scale  of  life 
sounding  forth  the  praises  of  the  Creator. 

Next  we  may  mention  the  power  of  genius  which 
casts  its  strange  spell  over  the  soul.  Geniuses  are 
few  yet  those  that  are  walk  over  the  earth  and  all 
men  follow  as  if  drawn  by  some  instinctive  influ- 
ence. "We  reverence  them  as  beings  of  a  superior 
race.  We  invest  them  with  attributes  more  than 
human.  We  listen  to  them  as  to  oracles,  yet  withal, 
we  are  conscious  they  are  human.  This  secret  in- 
fluence of  mind  over  mind  is  not  confined  to  personal 
contact.  We  have  all  doubtless  unconsciously  un- 
covered our  heads  in  the  presence  of  some  wonderful 
painting.  Simple  color  and  canvas  could  never  so 
impress  the  mind.  No,  it  was  the  soul  embodied  in 
the  picture,  which  long  after  the  master  slept  with 
the  fathers,  looked  out  upon  us  from  that  wonder 
land,  whence  he  when  living  among  mortals  drew 
his  power  to  charm. 

If  we  could  enter  into  the  experience  of  such  men 
we  would  doubtless  be  struck  with  amazement. 
Through  how  many  heart  sorrows  must  the  soul 
often  go  ere  the  light  of  a  great  conception  break 
through,  the  obscurity  of  the  mind.  Who  can  tell 
the  agony  of  a  soul  lead  in  daily  bondage  to  a 
mighty  thought.  Who  can  trace  the  painful  throes 
attending  the  birth  of  an  idea.  ' 

Akin  to  genius,  but  of  a  far  higher  sphere  stands 
the  Divine  Inspiration.     Some  men  have  stood 

12 


178 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


within  speaking  distance  of  heaven  and  like  Elijah 
of  old  could  hear  the  voice  of  the  Almighty  calling 
them  to  duty.  Of  such  was  Moses,  bearing  his  mystic 
rod  before  the  chosen  people ;  such  was  Isaiah 
burdened  with  the  word  of  the  Lord;  such  was 
Ezekiel  wrapt  in  the  glory  of  heavenly  visions. 
Then  there  was  the  Voice  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea 
and  following  him  the  wonderful  Presence  revealing 
the  secrets  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  How  strangely 
are  we  subdued  while  standing  in  imagination  before 
him  who  is  the  mouthpiece  of  God. 

While  contemplating  mysteries  we  are  lead  to 
remark  that  the  tirst  wonder  we  ever  beheld  was  the 
love  light  of  a  mother's  heart  bursting  upon  our 
being.  And  when  that  light  went  out  in  death  the 
last  tear  trembling  on  the  faded  cheek  told  the 
mystery  of  a  mother's  devotion.  It  is  true,  that 
other  affections  came  into  our  lives  such  as  of 
friends,  and  wife,  and  child,  but  they  were  all  so 
many  mysteries  walking  up  and  down  our  hearts 
filling  us  with  peace  and  joy.  However,  the  marvel 
of  all  marvels  is  God's  love  to  man.  The  birth  song 
of  Jesus  has  lingered  in  the  air  since  His  return  to 
heaven,  and  for  eighteen  centuries  men  have  been 
making  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem.  In  all  that  time 
how  many  freed  from  unclean  spirits  would  fain 
with  the  Magdalen  clasp  the  Savior's  feet.  A  love 
that  can  overcome  corruption,  enmity  and  sin  is 
surely  the  wonder  of  wonders,  and  the  mystery  of 
mysteries.  The  tears  of  Gethsemane,  and  the  blood 
of  the  cross  bring  peace  to  sin  stained  souls,  while 


SERIOUSNESS  OF  THE  DISCIPLES'  MISSION.  179 

faith  and  hope  holds  fellowship  with  love  even  to 
the  gates  of  Paradise. 

Again,  if  we  consider  the  sufferings  by  which  we 
are  surrounded  we  may  find  another  occasion  for 
the  sobriety  enjoined  by  the  text.  How  strangely 
do  joys  and  sorrows  mingle  in  human  life.  A  more 
cheerful  spirit  never  moved  among  men  than  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  yet  of  Him  it  was  said,  "  He  is  a  man 
of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief."  This 
thought  was  doubtless  in  the  Apostle's  mind  when 
he  taught  the  disciples  "to  rejoice  with  them  that 
rejoice,  and  to  weep  with  them  that  weep."  And 
further,  in  the  sympathy  by  which  our  soul  partakes 
of  the  pain  of  another  being  intensified  by  grace  we 
discover  that  peculiar  preparation  of  Christian 
hearts  fitting  them  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  a 
suffering  world.  As  the  disciple  goes  through  the 
world  in  the  unselfish  spirit  of  the  master  many 
will  be  the  occasions  when  he  will  be  called  upon 
to  bind  up  bleeding  humanity,  pouring  in  oil  and 
wine.  The  sighs  and  groans  of  suffering  bodies, 
writhing  form  and  distorted  countenance,  the  quiver- 
ing muscle  and  gasping  breath,  all  enter  into  that 
language  which  speaks  the  agony  of  physical  life, 
and  to  which  no  disciple  can  be  indifferent.  To 
pain  we  may  add  the  feeling  of  helplessness  which 
ever  attends  disease  subduing  the  spirit  as  pain  does 
the  body,  and  with  this  comes  the  sense  of  humili- 
ation which  inevitably  follows  the  infirmities  of  the 
flesh.  Such  experienc  es  appeal  to  our  higher  nature 
and  ought  to  awaken  the  tenderest  sympathy.  In 


180 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


order  that  we  may  be  suitable  ministers  of  his 
mercy  God  has  graciously  lead  the  most  of  us 
through  those  experiences  so  common  to  earthly 
life.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  a  Christian  life 
should  in  a  very  important  sense  be  above  the  world, 
yet,  we  too,  know  in  some  degree  the  distress  of  dis- 
appointment. Here  we  have  all  at  some  lime  of 
life  gone  forth  in  the  morning  and  beheld  the 
brightest  flowers  of  expectation  withered  and  dying 
by  an  untimely  frost.  We  have  planned,  and  our 
plans  have  been  frustrated,  we  have  labored,  and 
others  have  received  the  reward.  That  bitter  lesson 
which  comes  through  the  loss  of  confidence  we  have 
learned  in  tears.  "We  have  seen  the  brightest  hopes 
darkened,  the  warmest  friendships  broken,  the 
tenderest  affections  crushed,  and  the  purest  lives 
blasted.  Desires  have  waited  many  years  for  some 
one  to  warm  them  to  life  and  awaken  them  to  action 
yet  waited  in  vain.  Age,  accident  and  disease  have 
made  children  orphans,  and  children  have  grown 
cold  in  the  embraces  of  parents.  The  bruw  of  the 
bridegroom  has  been  darkened  with  sorrow  and  the 
music  of  the  bride's  voice  hushed  in  death. 

In  the  spiritual  sufferings  we  are  called  to  witness, 
we  may  mention  the  pain,  of  unbelief.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  think  that  infidelity  ever  brought  comfort  to 
a  single  heart.  The  groping  of  the  soul  in  its  moral 
blindness  after  God  is  pitiable  in  the  extreme, 
and  the  distress  it  entails  upon  life  is  greater  than 
that  which  comes  in  bereavement.  Spiritual  anxiety 
has  dwarfed  many  generous  natures  and  a  mocking 


SEBTOUSNESS  OF  THE  DISCIPLES'  MISSION.  181 

uncertainty  has  driven  men  to  madness.  How 
many  conscious  of  tins  world's  emptiness  have  cried 
out  after  God.  Men  have  felt  that  they  had  un- 
dying souls,  but  never  knew  it.  They  have  yearned 
for  immortality,  but  no  one  declared  it  unto  them. 
Even  when  in  penitence  they  have  been  brought  to 
the  cross,  they  have  been  forced  to  cry  out  Lord 
help  my  unbelief. 

Then  there  is  the  bondage  of  evil  habits  which 
holds  the  soul  in  relentless  slavery.  Who  can  enter 
into  the  agony  of  this  hand  to  hand  conflict  with  the 
evil  one.  Who  can  paint  the  demons  running  riot 
through  the  frenzied  mind.  Who  can  tell  the  weak- 
ness and  prostration  of  the  hour  of  reaction.  Who 
can  reveal  the  remorse  gnawing  at  the  vitals  and 
making  man  loathe  himself.  Ah,  who  can  feel  the 
terror  and  anguish  of  a  soul  when  the  voice  of  the 
tempter  calls  him  again  to  the  debauch.  The  suf- 
ferings of  Prometheus  are  not  to  be  compared  with 
the  affliction  of  such  a  one. 

But  then  again  there  is  the  sorrow  which  comes  in 
the  conviction  of  sin.  When  the  soul  can  look  back 
upon  its  evil  life  with  every  deed  made  manifest  in 
the  light  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  When  God's  goodness 
and  forbearance  only  make  more  hideous  the  in- 
gratitude of  the  heart.  When  the  folly  and  sinful- 
ness of  sin  only  intensify  the  evil  deed.  In  contem- 
plating the  workings  of  a  mind  in  such  pain  we 
would  fain  like  Joseph  before  his  brethren,  turn 
aside  and  seek  a  place  to  weep.  The  anxious  sym- 
pathy of  a  Christian  heart  in  behalf  of  such,  can 


182 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


only  find  relief  in  prayer  to  God  that  he  may  heai 
the  blessed  resolution,  "  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my 
Father. " 

In  view  of  the  sufferings  of  this  life  the  kindness 
of  God  is  manifest  by  giving  us  spirits  which  can 
endure  more  sorrow  than  joy.  The  joys  of  life  are 
redoubled  bjT  friendship  and  our  griefs  are  lessened 
by  sympathy.  How  rich  is  that  grace  which  tells 
us  that  we  "  have  not  a  High  Priest  who  cannot  be 
touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities."  Seeing 
that  he  was  compassed  about  with  infirmities  he  is 
able  "  to  have  compassion  upon  the  ignorant  and 
them  who  are  out  of  the  way. " 

In  drawing  nearer  to  his  personal  interests  the 
Christian  finds  in  the  dangers  of  his  pilgrimage 
abundant  reason  for  sobriety  and  watchfulness. 
Jesus  foreseeing  all  that  the  apostles  would  encoun- 
ter while  obedient  to  the  great  commission,  told 
them  of  the  persecution  they  would  meet.  No  one 
can  read  that  catalogue  which  has  been  only  too 
faithfully  fulfilled,  without  trembling  before  the 
images  which  arise  in  the  mind.  Every  generation 
has  found  martyrs  for  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  in 
every  country  for  his  faith  "  a  man's  foes  have  been 
those  of  his  own  house."  With  advancing  light  and 
increasing  influence  this  physical  opposition  to  the 
truth  may  grow  less,  but  in  one  way  or  another  we 
are  constantly  reminded  that  the  spirit  of  persecu- 
tion is  not  dead.  Some  Scriptures  have  been  ful- 
filled and  their  application  therefore  has  ceased,  but 
it  will  be  a  very  long  time  before  this  passage  will 


BEBIOUSNESS  OF  THE  DISCIPLES'  MISSION.  183 

cease  to  be  verified  that  "they  who  will  live  godly 
in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution." 

The  evils  that  threaten  our  spiritual  interests  are 
both  more  numerous  and  greater  in  variety  than 
those  which  effect  our  temporal  comfort.  .  Tempta- 
tion lays  its  snares  for  the  unwary  in  every  place. 
Every  season  brings  its  peculiar  inducements  for 
evil,  and  no  life  is  free  from  the  besetting  sin  of  un- 
belief. There  is  nothing,  I  presume,  that  man  re-  ' 
ceives  from  Grod  but  Satan  uses  to  break  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  soul  with  heaven.  Temptations  come 
singly  and  in  groups.  At  times  they  would  whelm 
the  soul  with  violence,  at  other  times  they  would 
destroy  it  with  the  serpent's  sting.  The  confidence 
of  the  soul  is  often  the  occasion  of  stumbling.  Suc- 
cess exposes  the  life  to  serious  danger.  The  hour 
of  convalesence  is  the  most  critical  period  of  disease 
and  the  point  of  victory  lies  nearest  destruction.  It 
is  a  well  known  fact  in  military  science  that  when 
triumph  perches  upon  the  banner  the  spirit  of  insub- 
ordination is  strongest. 

If  we  consider  the  things  which  a  Christian  may 
lose,  how  serious  becomes  the  possibility  of  such  a 
loss.  Much  like  our  appreciation  of  other  blessings 
we  know  not  how  precious  faith  is,  until  we  see  it 
stranded,  and  all  the  priceless  treasures  tossed  to 
and  fro  by  the  idle  waves  of  human  conceit.  How 
dark  is  the  starless  night  over  which  hope  once 
hung  the  harbinger  of  the  coming  day,  and  how 
cheerless  that  hearth  when  the  embers  of  affection 
have  crumbled  into  ashes.    Who  would  lose  purity 


184 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


in  debauch,  who  would  have  the  smile  of  heaven 
change  into  wrath  and  the  glory  of  immortality 
swallowed  up  in  the  shadow  of  the  second  death. 

There  then  are  precious  souls  for  which  we  watch, 
and  for  which  we  must  give  account.  Jesus  died 
for  each,  and  in  view  of  this  how  great  is  their  value- 
enhanced.  The  thoughtless  servant  may  eat  and 
drink  with  the  drunken,  and  the  Christian  may  lose 
sight  of  his  great  responsibility,  but  the  hour  of 
judgment  comes  when  we  shall  be  asked  of  our 
stewardship.  The  Lord  has  warned  us  of  his  ap- 
proach, let  us  then,  as  faithful  Christians,  "be  sober 
and  watch  unto  prayer." 

Not  only  does  the  consideration  of  present  influ- 
ence impress  us  with  its  importance,  but  those  un- 
dying consequences  which  linger  behind  when  we 
shall  have  entered  into  eternity,  ought  to  quicken 
our  most  serious  reflection.  He  who  does  evil,  not 
only  injures  his  victim  and  himself,  but  he  sets  in 
motion  a  peculiar  agency  that  grows  with  time  and 
spreads  with  the  increasing  race. 

And  lastly,  if  dangers  menacing  the  disciples  were 
only  human,  there  would  be  less  occasion  for  fear. 
If  the  consequences  of  wrong  were  confined  to  this 
life  they  might  well  be  "borne.  But  we  know  "  that 
we  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood"  but  against 
those  fearful  agencies  of  sin  working  behind  the 
scenes.  The  depth  and  devices  of  Satan  are  marvel- 
lous, and  woe  be  to  him  who  presumptuously  enters 
the  lists  for  conflict.  While  watching  unto  prayer 
let  our  petition  ever  be  "  lead  us  not  into  temptation 
bmt  deliver  us  from  evil." 


J.  N.  SMITH. 


JOHN  NELSON  SMITH. 


OHN  NELSON  SMITH  was  born  in  Knox  County,  Ohio, 

April  2,  1840.  He  was  the  youngest  of  eight  children. 
His  parents  were  religious  people,  being  members  of 
the  Christian  or  Newlight  church.  When  he  was  ten 
years  old  his  parents  moved  to  Iowa,  and  after  spending 
two  years  near  Burlington,  entered  government  land 
in  Linn  County,  where  they  settled  and  opened  a  farm. 
John  worked  on  the  farm  in  summer  and  attended  the  common 
school  in  winter  until  nearly  eighteen  years  of  age,  when  he 
entered  Cornell  College.  The  great  financial  crash  had  just  oc- 
curred, times  were  exceedingly  hard  and  money  very  scarce.  His 
father  could  not  help  him,  but  an  older  brother,  who  was  anxious 
that  he  should  have  an  education,  encouraged  him  in  every  way 
possible.  He  had  but  seventy-five  cents  when  he  arrived  at  the 
college.  With  this  he  bought  the  only  book  with  which  he 
was  not  provided.  A.  kind  friend  proposed  to  board  him  through 
the  spring  and  fall  terms,  and  wait  for  his  pay  until  the  next 
spring.  This  offer  was  accepted.  The  succeeding  winter,  when 
eighteen  years  of  age,  John  taught  a  school  of  sixty  pupils, 
over  twenty  of  which  were  young  men  and  women.  Teachers' 
wages  were  low  at  that  time,  and  generally  teachers  had  to 
take  school  orders  in  part  pay,  and  wait  often  many  months. 

Returning  to  school  in  the  spring,  John  paid  his  board  bill, 
and  commenced  the  experiment  of  boarding  himself.  Having 
a  school  order,  and  being  greatly  in  need  of  money,  he  effected 
a  loan  at  thirty-five  per  cent,  interest,  giving  his  order  as  collateral. 
This  fact  indicates  the  state  of  the  finances  of  the  country  at 
that  time.  John  continued  to  attend  school  and  teach,  until 
about  the  close  of  the  year  1863.   His  last  teaching  was  as  prin- 

185 


186 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


cipal  of  Excelsior  High  School,  at  Fairview,  Jones  County, 
Iowa.  He  quit  this  position  and  work  to  give  himself  to  the 
ministry. 

His  religious  life  reaches  hack  to  the  time  when  he  was  nine- 
teen. His  mother,  to  whom  he  was  devotedly  attached,  died  a 
most  triumphant  and  peaceful  death.  This  profoundly  im- 
pressed John's  mind  with  the  beauty  and  value  of  religion.  He 
determined  to  be  a  Christian.  Soon  after  this  he  made  a  pro- 
fession of  religion,  uniting  with  the  Methodist  Protestant 
church.  He  was  never  satfsfied  with  Methodism,  however,  and 
the  strife  and  jealousy  of  the  various  warring  sects  greatly  dis- 
tressed him.  About  a  year  later  he  was  engaged  to  teach  where 
there  was  a  small  baud  of  Disciples.  He  had  heard  of  these 
people  but  not  favorably,  and  consequently  had  formed  some 
prejudices  against  them.  They  had  no  regular  preaching,  but 
an  occasional  sermon  was  preached  by  some  one  who  came  that 
way.  Some  of  them  he  heard,  but  as  a  rule  they  were  not  of  a 
character  to  favorably  impress  him.  In  September,  1862,  the 
Disciples  held  their  county  meeting  in  Fairview.  This  meeting 
he  decided  to  attend.  On  Lord's  day,  the  second  one  in  Sep- 
tember, after  listening  to  a  powerful  sermon  by  N.  A.  McCon- 
nell,  he  made  the  good  confession  and  the  same  day  was  baptized 
in  the  Wapsipinicon  River,  at  Anamosa.  This  day  he  remem- 
bers as  one  of  the  joyous  days  of  his  life.  Previous  to  this  time 
he  had  intended  to  enter  the  profession  of  the  Law ;  but 
on  that  day  he  decided  to  preach  the  gospel.  He  began  to 
preach  about  a  year  afterward,  and  has  continued  without 
cessation  to  the  present  time.  He  has  never  been  out  of  work, 
always  having  more  calls  than  he  could  fill.  He  has  preached 
in  Iowa,  Illinois,  Ohio,  and  a  little  in  Nebraska.  His  work  has 
mostly  been  pastoral,  though  he  has  evangelized  some,  having 
held  a  number  of  good  meetings,  gaining  in  some  of  them  from 
forty  to  seventy-rive  members.  But  for  the  fact  that  he  has 
been  a  long  time  affected  with  neuralgia,  he  feels  that  he  could 
have  accomplished  much  more. 

He  was  married  January  8,  1864,  to  Mi6S  Sarah  A.  Mershon, 
daughter  of  Dr.  T.  O.  M-rshon.  By  this  union  they  have  six 
boys  and  three  girls.  His  present  place  of  residence  is  West 
Liberty,  where  he  has  labored  lor  the  church  for  the  past  three 
and  a  half  years,  with  good  success. 


JOHN  1TELSON  SMITH. 


187 


In  personal  appearance,  he  stands  six  feet  in  his  hoots,  and 
weighs  160  pounds  ;  dark  hair,  streaked  with  gray,  covering  a 
broad,  high  forehead;  his  build  is  symmetrical  and  movement 
easy  and  graceful ;  has  an  excellent  voice,  a  ready  flow  of  lan- 
guage, a  good  delivery,  a  tender  sympathy,  a  strong  faith,  and 
the  courage  to  rebuke  sin  and  to  "declare  the  whole  counsel  of 
God."  He  considers  the  interests  of  the  cause  of  Christ  outside 
of  the  limits  of  his  local  field  and  in  all  the  ways  which  are 
possible  with  him,  he  aids  and  encourages  the  missionary 
work,  whether  it  be  State,  general  or  foreign. 


THE  LAW  OF  INCREASE. 


JOHN  K.  SMITH. 


"And  the  disciples  came  and  said  unto  Him,  why  speaketh 
thou  unto  them  in  parables?  He  answered  and  said  unto  them, 
Because  it  is  given  unto  you  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  but  to  them  it  is  not  given.  For  whosoever 
hath,  to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  more  abund- 
ance ;  but  whosoever  hath  not  from  him  shall  be  taken  away 
even  that  he  hath.  Therefore  speak  I  to  them  in  parables; 
because  they  seeing,  see  not ;  and  hearing  they  hear  not, 
neither  do  they  understand." — Matt.  13: 10-13. 

HE  thoughtless  reader  of  this  language  would 
conclude  that  Jesus  did  not  desire  or  intend 
that  the  people  should  understand  His  teach- 
ing; that  His  object  in  using  parables  was 
to  so  disguise  His  thought  that  all  except  the 
chosen  few  would  not  be  able  to  comprehend  His 
meaning.  The  thoughtless  are  not  the  only  ones 
who  have  come  to  this  conclusion.  It  would  be  a 
most  difficult  task  to  harmonize  such  a  view  of  Jesus 
as  a  teacher,  with  the  object  of  His  mission  to  our 
world,  which  in  His  own  language  was  "  to  seek  and 
to  save  them  that  are  lost."  Before  believing  that 
He  purposed  so  to  teach  that  men  could  not  under- 
stand Him,  we  must  divest  Him  of  the  benevolent 
character  which  His  people  have  always  claimed 


190 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


for  Him,  and  which  has  been  conceded  to  Him  by 
the  world.  As  a  further  proof  that  this  was  not  His 
purpose,  we  mote  the  fact  that  the  people  did  under- 
stand sometimes.  Even  His  most  malignant  enemies 
perceived  that  in  some  of  his  parables,  He  spoke  of 
them  and  they  were  therefore  the  more  enraged. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  inquire  into  the  precise 
object  of  the  Savior  in  using  this  method  of  teach- 
ing. But  this  is  not  our  purpose.  We  refer  to  this 
only  for  the  purpose  of  rescuing  this  important 
statement  from  a  false  and  dangerous  interpretation. 

"We  have  selected  this  language  bec  ause  that  in 
it  we  find  a  truth  of  great  value ;  a  principle  in  the 
moral  government  of  God,  of  very  great  importance. 
It  is  to  this  principle  that  your  attention  will  be 
directed  in  this  sermon.  We  shall  see  as  we  pro- 
ceed that  Jesus  intended  to  state  this  principle  and 
not  to  say  that  His  teaching  was  to  be  hidden  from 
men.  This  principle  we  will  call  The  Law  of  Increase. 
It  contains  the  law  of  decrease  as  well  as  that  of 
increase,  of  loss  as  well  as  of  gain.  The  law  of 
increase  may  be  expressed  in  the  single  word,  use. 
He  who  uses  what  he  has  shall  have  more  abund- 
ance. Whereas  he  who  neglects  or  refuses  to  use 
what  he  has  shall  have  less,  and  in  time  will  lose 
what  he  has. 

This  principle  has  a  wide  application.  It  is  an 
established  principle  in  the  material,  the  intellectual 
and  the  moral  worlds.  He  who  uses  his  opportuni- 
ties will  find  them  multiplying;  while  he  who 
neglects  the  opportunities  which  come  to  him  will 


THE  LAW  OF  INCREASE. 


191 


soon  "be  found  complaining  lbecanse  lie  has  none 
given  to  him.  In  the  business  world,  he  who  prop- 
erly uses  the  means  with  which  he  has  been  blessed 
will  find  them  increasing  day  after  day.  The  poor 
boy  who  begins  with  a  few  dollars,  which  he  wisely 
invests,  will  in  time  become  the  possessor  of  a  for- 
tune. On  the  other  hand,  he  who,  though  starting 
out  with  much  fails  to  properly  use  what  he  has, 
will  in  his  old  age,  find  himself  a  pauper. 

He  who  properly  employs  his  physical  powers 
will  be  gratified  at  seeing  them  increasing.  A  babe 
gains  new  strength  by  the  use  of  that  which  it 
already  has,  until  it  can  creep  and  then  walk.  Thus 
it  grows  to  youth  and  in  due  time  to  manhood. 

Ascending  a  step  higher  we  find  the  same  law. 
With  respect  to  the  senses  it  is  true  that  their  use 
promotes  growth  while  the  neglect  to  use  them  is  fol- 
lowed by  an  opposite  effect.  He  who  depends  most 
upon  the  sense  of  hearing,  can  hear  best.  No  lan- 
guage can  accurately  portray  the  misfortune  of  one 
who  was  born  blind.  Yet  for  every  misfortune  there 
is  some  recompense.  Because  of  the  more  constant 
use  of  the  sense  of  hearing  and  his  greater  depend- 
ence upon  it,  he  whose  eyes  never  beheld  the  match- 
less loveliness  of  this  world,  knows  vastly  more  of 
the  sweetness  of  nature's  melody,  than  is  known  by 
those  who  have  eyes  and  who  see.  To  him  the 
music  of  the  feathered  songsters  is  sweeter,  the 
moaning  of  the  winds  and  the  sighing  of  the  zeyphrs 
are  more  plaintive  and  the  roaring  of  the  thunders 
is  more  majestic  than  they  can  be  to  him  upon  whom 


192 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


this  misfortune  has  not  fallen.  How  acnte  is  the 
vision  of  those  who  were  born  deaf!  They  detect 
every  movement  however  slight.  This  is  because 
their  eyes  have  been  made  to  perform  a  twofold  duty. 
How  mnch  more  acute  is  the  sense  of  touch  in  those 
who  cannot  see  than  in  those  who  are  blessed  with 
the  powers  of  vision.  The  fingers  of  a  poor,  blind  fac- 
tory girl  became  so  calloused  by  constant  use,  that 
she  could  no  longer  read  her  Bible.  With  a  broken 
heart  she  pressed  it  to  her  lips,  exclaiming,  "Blessed 
Bible,  must  I  give  you  up?  "  when  to  her  great  joy 
she  found  that  by  reason  of  use  her  touch  had  be- 
come so  acute  that  she  could  read  with  her  lips. 

If  we  ascend  to  the  domain  of  the  intellect  we 
will  find  it  governed  by  this  principle.  The  per- 
ceptive and  reflective  faculties  are  developed  by 
use ;  while  disuse  tends  to  weaken  and  dwarf  them. 
The  more  constantly  one's  memory  is  employed  in 
a  given  direction,  the  more  retentive  it  becomes.  It 
is  a  common  complaint  with  many  good  people  that 
they  cannot  remember  what  and  where  Scripture 
texts  are,  or  what  the  principal  thoughts  are  of 
sermons  to  which  they  listen.  The  same  class  of 
people  do  not  remember  the  Scriptures  which  they 
read.  The  reason  for  this  is  not  that  the  memory  is 
deficient.  Other  things  of  far  less  importance  are 
remembered  easily.  The  reason  is  the  memory  has 
not  been  used  for  this  purpose.  Such  persons  may 
constantly  improve  their  memory  in  this  respect  by  a 
little  effort  to  firmly  fix  in  their  minds,  the  Scriptures 
which  they  read  and  hear. 


THE  LAW  OF  INCREASE. 


193 


That  man's  powers  of  reason  are  strengthened  by 
use,  is  a  fact  well  known  "by  all.  Indeed  all  these 
facts  to  which  reference  has  been  made  are  well 
understood.  They  have  been  introduced  here  simply 
to  prepare  the  way  for  higher  and  more  important 
truths. 

We  come  now  to  the  domain  of  man's  moral  and 
spiritual  forces  and  activities,  where  we  have  the 
clearest  possible  evidences  of  the  influence  of  the 
principle  of  increase.  In  our  text  Jesus  applies  this 
principle  to  the  hearing  and  understanding  of  truth. 
He  evidently  regarded  man  as  being  naturally 
endowed  with  the  capability  to  receive  truth.  He 
taught  men  "  to  take  heed  what  they  hear."  He 
holds  us  responsible  for  what  we  hear.  It  would 
be  well  for  us  if  we  would  ever  keep  this  in  mind. 
We  listen  to  false  and  dangerous  teaching,  from 
mere  idle  curiosity,  with  no  intention  of  believing 
it ;  but  all  the  same  it  exerts  an  influence  upon  us. 
We  take  up  and  read  sensational  and  impure  books 
and  papers  apparently  unmindful  that  by  the  law 
of  association  our  pure  thoughts  and  habits  are  cor- 
rupted. Thus  we  come,  unconsciously  and  without 
intending  it,  under  the  influence  of  vicious  men  and 
women  until  our  standard  of  virtue  and  propriety 
becomes  measurably  degraded.  No  paper  or  book 
of  questionable  character  should  ever  be  permitted 
a  place  in  any  household.  Nor  should  we  listen  to 
teaching  which  we  know  to  be  false  and  dangerous. 
To  do  so  is  to  court  danger,  a  thing  for  which  there 
is  no  j  us  i  ification. 

13 


194 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


We  are  also  taught  "  to  take  heed  how  we  hear." 
Jesus  holds  u^  responsible  for  the  way  in  which  we 
hear.  This  He  does  "because  very  much  depends 
upon  the  manner  of  hearing.  Jesus  said  of  the 
Jews,  "Hearing,  they  hear  not,  neither  do  they 
understand."  They  listened  to  Him  as  He  taught, 
hut  they  had  no  disposition  to  receive  His  teaching. 
Indeed  they  were  determined  that  they  would  not 
receive  it.  As  a  result  of  this  they  neither  heard 
nor  saw,  in  the  true  sense.  The  power  to  perceive 
truth  and  to  discriminate  between  it  and  error  had 
gone  from  them.  He  who  rejects  the  truth  will  find 
himself  becoming  more  averse  to  it  day  after  day. 
At  the  same  time  there  is  a  proportionate  decrease 
in  his  ability  to  understand  and  appreciate  it.  The 
cause  of  this  is  not  hard  to  discover.  Opposition 
to  truth  grows  out  of  evil  desires.  Such  desires 
yielded  to,  become  stronger  while  the  better  elements 
grow  more  feeble.  If  opposition  to  the  truth  is  con- 
tinued long,  the  evil  within  one  becomes  his  absolute 
master.  The  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  by  their  un- 
principled and  persistent  opposition  to  the  truth, 
lost  whatever  desires  they  may  have  had  for  it. 
Their  hearts  were  gross,  their  ears  were  dull  of  hear- 
ing and  their  eyes  had  been  so  long  closed  to  the 
light,  that  irrecoverable  blindness  had  ensued.  For 
this  reason  it  was  not  given  to  them  to  know  the 
mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  They  would 
not  know  when  they  could,  and  now,  the  ability 
to  know  is  taken  from  them.  How  sad,  how  de- 
plorable was  their  condition.    But  this  was  not 


THE  LAW  OF  INCREASE. 


195 


peculiar  to  the  Jews  who  opposed  the  Savior 
when  He  was  here.   Multitudes  of  men  are  in  this 
condition  to-day,  and  from  the  same  cause.  They 
have  fought  against  God's  truth  with  such  deter- 
mination that  it  is  more  easy  for  them  to  believe 
a  lie  than  to  "believe  truth.    We  often  hear  it  re- 
marked of  men  who  advocate  the  materialistic  phi- 
losophy of  things,  "They  do  not  believe  what  they 
teach  "   It  is  true  some  may  not  believe  it.  Many 
however  do.    And  while  to  you  it  may  seem  impos- 
sible for  any  person  to  believe  that  there  can  be  an 
effect  without  a  just  cause,  that  there  can  be  a  design 
without  a  designer,  and  that  there  can  be  thought 
without  a  thinker  yet  it  is  possible.    In  2  Thess.  2 : 
10-12,  Paul  speaks  of  those  who  would  not  receive 
the  love  of  the  truth  that  they  might  be  saved.  "And 
for  this  cause  God  sendeth  them  a  working  of  error 
that  they  should  believe  a  lie."    God  permits  men 
to  reject  His  truth  if  they  will.    He  permits  them  to 
accept  of  falsehood  and  delusion  if  they  so  elect. 
This  they  may  continue  to  do  until  the  moral  senses 
become  so  defiled  that  darkness  seems  to  them  to  be 
light  and  light  seems  to  be  darkness.    Thus  man, 
who  was  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  and 
who,  in  the  benevolent  purpose  of  Ids  Creator,  was 
intended  to  have  dominion  and  to  be  crowned  with 
glory  and  honor,  may  become  a  very  demon  in 
wickedness.    This  appaUing  truth  should  be  so  im- 
pressed upon  the  minds  of  the  young,  that  they  may 
be  filled  with  a  wholesome  fear  to  trifle  with  a  thing 
so  sacred  as  God's  truth. 


196 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


How  pleasing  it  is  to  turn  to  the  disciples  of  our 
Master.  How  different  was  their  condition  from 
that  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  They  had  made 
a  right  use  of  their  capability  to  understand  truth. 
They  had  listened  to  the  great  Teacher  with  wonder 
and  delight.  Never  before  did  mortals  have  the 
opportunity  to  listen  to  such  a  teacher ;  and  to  the 
extent  of  their  ability  they  were  improving  it.  They 
sincerely  desired  to  know  the  truth ;  and  while  there 
was  much  in  His  teaching  which  they  did  not  under- 
stand, it  was  not  from  any  fault  of  theirs.  They  de- 
sired to  understand.  As  a  result  of  this  use  of  their 
powers,  they  daily  became  more  anxious  to  hear 
and  better  able  to  comprehend.  In  this  way  it  was 
given  to  them  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  We  cannot  derive  from  this  Scripture 
any  mystical  meaning.  It  does  not  teach  any  par- 
tial predestination  over  which  they  exercised  no  con- 
trol. Their  knowledge  was  simply  the  natural  and 
necessary  result  of  the  right  use  of  the  capability 
which  belonged  to  them  by  creation.  By  eagerly 
and  earnestly  listening  to  the  Savior's  teaching, 
and  accepting  it  fully  and  joyously,  they  were 
blessed  with  an  ever  increasing  desire  to  hear,  and 
ability  to  comprehend  it.  And  what  was  true  with 
the  disciples  then,  is  true  of  every  one  now  who 
properly  exercises  his  gifts.  His  desire  for  truth 
will  become  stronger  with  each  passing  day, 
while  at  the  same  time,  there  will  come  to  him  a 
more  comprehensive  grasp  of  what  he  knows  and 
reads.   Every  student  of  the  Scriptures  has  realized 


THE  LAW  OF  INCREASE. 


197 


the  truth  of  this  in  his  own  experience.  Teaching 
which,  at  the  first  seemed  obscure,  is  now  plain. 
Mysteries  which,  at  the  first  seemed  incomprehensi- 
ble, are  now  easy  and  simple.  There  is  in  this  fact, 
much  to  encourage  us  in  our  study  of  the  word  of 
truth.  The  young  of  the  church,  the  babes  in  Christ, 
should  find  in  this  a  strong  incentive  to  the  early 
and  dilligent  study  of  that  book  which  will  make 
them  wise  unto  salvation.  Too  many,  alas,  are 
content  to  remain  babes,  and  to  require  some  one 
to  feed  them,  year  after  year,  upon  the  milk  of  the 
word.  Many  who  should  be  teachers  are  yet  chil- 
dren, unable  to  give  a  reason  for  the  hope  which  is 
theirs.  God  grant  that  the  young  disciples  of  the 
present  generation  may  find  such  delight  in  the  law 
of  the  Lord  as  will  lead  them  on  from  <  >ne  degree  of 
knowledge  to  another,  until  many  of  them  shall  be- 
come masters  in  Israel  and  preachers  of  "  the  un- 
searchable riches  of  Christ." 

But  there  is  a  higher  knowledge  of  the  teaching 
of  Christ  which  cannot  be  obtained  by  study  alone. 
It  can  be  gained  only  through  obedience  to  the  will 
of  God.  This  truth  is  clearly  stated  by  the  Savior 
in  John  7 : 17.  "  If  any  man  will  do  his  will  he  shall 
know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether 
I  speak  of  myself." 

When  we  set  out  to  be  Christians,  we  accepted 
the  teaching  of  Jesus,  upon  his  authority,  believing 
him  to  be  the  Divine  Christ.  But  when  for  a  time 
we  have  walked  in  the  way  of  obedience,  we  have  a 
knowledge  of  its  divine  origin  from  the  doctrine  it- 


198 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


self.  Where,  at  the  first,  we  saw  only  authority, 
now  we  see  beauty  and  fitness.  As  light  is  adapted 
to  the  eye,  so,  we  find,  in  our  experience  as  obedi- 
ent believers,  that  the  gospel  of  Christ  is  adapted  to 
us  in  our  fallen  and  ruined  condition.  It  is  wisdom 
to  us  in  cur  ignorance.  It  is  strength  to  us  in  our 
weakness.  It  is  comfort  to  us  in  our  sorrow.  We 
see  in  its  perfeet  adaptation  to  us,  proof  that  it 
came  from  Him,  who,  because  he  made  us,  knows 
all  our  wants  and  woes.  . 

Human  objects  must  be  known  in  order  to  be 
loved.  Divine  objects  must  be  loved  in  order  to  be 
known.  We  cannot  have  a  knowledge  of  God,  in  its 
highest  sense,  except  as  it  comes  to  us  through  our 
love  of  Him.  But  love  for  Him  finds  expression  in 
obedience  to  His  commandments.  In  the  highest 
sense,  therefore,  we  do  not  know  God  until  we  have 
for  a  time  lived  in  obedience  to  Him.  We  may 
hear  and  read  of  light,  the  most  mysterious  and 
beautiful  of  all  material  substances,  until  we  feel 
that  we  know  much  of  it.  But  one  hour  spent  in 
the  glorious  sunshine,  amidst  waving  grass,  blooming 
flowers  and  sparkling  waters  will  give  us  more  knowl- 
edge of  light  than  we  can  obtain  from  all  our  books. 
And  so  one  year  of  faithful  obedience  to  God,  will 
afford  us  a  far  better  knowledge  of  Him  than  could 
be  obtained  by  a  lifetime  of  study.  And  what  is 
true  of  God  is  likewise  true  of  His  word.  By  loving 
obedience  to  it,  we  come  into  possession  of  a  knowl- 
edge of  its  divine  character  which  can  be  obtained  in 
no  other  way.   And  let  i-  be  observed  here  that  the 


THE  LAW  OF  INCREASE. 


199 


principle  which  applies  to  hearing  and  understand- 
ing applies  likewise  to  obedience  to  the  truth. 

The  disposition  and  ability  to  obey  increases  with 
our  obedience.  What  we  hesitate  to  attempt  to-day, 
we  will  cheerfully  undertake  to-morrow.  That 
which  to-day,  seems  to  be  a  steep  and  difficult  moun- 
tain will  to-morrow  be  a  small  eminence,  reached 
by  an  easy  grade.  The  yoke  of  Christ  which  seemed 
so  perilous  we  now  find  to  be  easy ;  and  the  burden 
which  we  dreaded  we  find  to  be  light  Thus  we  "go 
from  strength  to  strength ;"  and  as  we  go,  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  becomes  more  com- 
plete and  satisfactory,  until  our  souls  are  filled 
with  a  serene  sense  of  its  fulness  and  perfection. 

The  Christian  man  or  woman  occupies  vantage- 
ground  which  is  accessible  to  no  others.  He  can 
speak  of  Christianity  as  no  one  besides  him  has  the 
right  to  speak  of  it.  A  consumptive,  upon  the  be- 
lief in  the  testimony  of  others,  hurries  to  the  moun- 
tains that  he  may  breathe  their  pure  air  and  live. 
In  a  year  he  returns  sound  in  lungs  and  strong  in 
limbs.  Is  he  not  better  qualified  to  testify  as  to  the 
climatic  influences  of  that  country  than  are  those 
who  have  never  been  there  ?  Is  he  not  in  a  position 
to  testify  as  he  could  not  have  done  a  year  before  ? 

Thus  a  Christian  who  has  faithfully  served  his 
Master,  can  speak  of  Christianity  out  of  the  depths 
of  his  own  experience.  The  springs  of  thought  and 
action  within  him  have  been  cleansed  and  purified,  in 
the  fountain  which  has  been  opened  for  sin  and  un- 
cleanness.    His  tempest- tossed  soul  has  been  saved 


200 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


from  impending  destruction  by  the  sure  anchor,  tlx? 
hope  of  eternal  life.  In  times  of  weakness  he  has 
been  "  strengthened  with  might  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  inner  man."  Without  boasting  he  can  say, 
"I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed  " 

In  this  we  have  the  explanation  Of  the  fact  that 
among  the  tens  of  thousands  of  those  who  fall  away 
from  the  church  of  God,  few  if  any  can  be  found 
who  were,  for  any  considerable  time,  active  and  con- 
sistent Christians.  If  you  find  among  them  those, 
as  no  doubt  you  will,  who  were  a  long  time  in  the 
church,  you  may  know  that  they  were  inactive  or 
inconsistent.  There  could  be  found  at  any  time 
some  defect,  either  in  faith  or  devotion.  He  who 
has  long  and  faithfully  served  Christ  knows  too  well 
the  character  and  value  of  Christianity,  to  exchange 
it  for  the  empty  honors  and  delusive  pleasures  of 
the  world.  He  lias  drank  too  deeply  of  the  pure 
sweet  waters  of  the  living  Rock,  to  permit  him  to 
think  of  going  back  to  the  bitter  waters  of  Marah. 
Rather  he  desires  to  press  onward  to  a  fuller  reali- 
zation of  the  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises 
of  God. 

Once  more  we  find  the  law  of  increase  in  the 
various  duties  and  activities  of  the  Christian  life. 
All  Christians  have  a  spiritual  vocation.  All  are 
left  with  gifts,  capacities  and  endowments.  Each 
one  is  held  accountable  for  all  of  these  which  he 
possesses.  In  the  parable  of  the  talents — Matt. 
25 : 14,  30, — we  are  taught  most  impressively,  that 
we  are  not  only  responsible  for  the  talents,  as  they 


THE  LAW  OF  IN0RBA8E. 


201 


were  given  to  us,  but  for  their  increase  as  well.  The 
servants  who  increased  their  number  of  talents 
were  blessed,  while  he  who  had  made  no  increase 
was  condemned.  Here  again,  the  increase  was  the 
result  of  use.  He  who  doubled  the  number  of  his 
talents  used  them,  while  he  who  had  no  increase 
hid  his  in  the  earth.  And  here  it  will  be  observed, 
that  in  the  judgment,  if  we  are  condemned,  it  will 
not  be  because  we  did  not  have  many  talents,  but 
because  we  did  not  use  what  we  had.  If  we  have 
but  one  talent  and  use  it  wisely  it  will  be  enough. 
II'  we  have  many,  and  do  not  increase  them  by  wise 
use,  we  shall  be  condemned. 

Oh,  that  the  church  of  Christ  could  feel  the  force 
of  these  lessons.  We  are  sadly  in  need  of  a  more 
constant  and  active  use  of  the  talents  which  we,  in 
so  great  abundance  possess.  Our  prayer  meetings 
languish  and  die  because  there  are  so  few  who  will 
talk  and  pray  in  the  public  assembly.  Our  Sunday 
schools  struggle  along,  half  living  and  half  dying 
for  the  reason  that  so  few  of  the  old  and  strong 
members  of  the  church  consent  to  throw  themselves 
into  the  work.  Our  schools  and  colleges  are  crip- 
pled, and  our  home  and  foreign  missionary  opera- 
tions are  circumscribed,  all  for  the  want  of  money. 
And  yet  the  money  is  in  the  church.  God  has  pros- 
pered His  people  in  all  portions  of  this  goodly  land. 
Multitudes  of  them  have  an  abundance  of  the  things 
of  this  life,  while  thousands  have  accumulated 
wealth. 


202 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Some  it  is  true,  have  learned  to  give  as  they  have 
received,  freely,  and  to  them  and  the  faithful  poor 
we  are  indebted  for  the  work  which  is  being  ac- 
complished. They  have  learned  too,  the  truth  of 
the  Savior's  words,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than 
to  receive."  Many  of  them  have  learned  from 
blessed  experience  that  the  law  of  increase  applies 
to  giving  as  it  does  to  hearing  and  understanding. 
A  dear  brother,  now  gone  to  his  reward,  well  known 
for  his  liberality  in  the  church,  remarked,  while 
tears  of  joy  filled  his  eyes,  "  I  have  learned  that 
thp  more  I  give  the  more  I  have."  What  a  perfect 
trust  in  God  such  knowledge  as  this  must  bring. 
But  why  should  not  all  have  this  confidence?  If 
God  is  true,  then  they  who  give  cheerfully  and 
liberally,  and  from  pure  motives,  will  find  them- 
selves blessed  with  an  ever-increasing  desire  and 
ability  to  give.  On  the  other  hand  they  who  do 
not  thus  give,  but  who  hoard  their  treasures  while 
they  see  the  cause  of  Christ  languishing,  will  find 
an  ever-decreasing  desire  to  give  until  the  foun- 
tains of  benevolence  will  become  dry,  and  blight 
and  mildew  will  settle  upon  the  life  that  otherwise 
would  abound  in  fruits  and  flowers.  Oh,  child  of 
God,  will  you  not  trust  our  Father  for  all  that  He 
has  promised  ?  Surely  He  who  notes  the  sparrows 
fall  will  protect  and  guide  you  here.  Here  He  will 
multiply  your  love  and  good  works,  and  in  the  end 
He  will  say,  "Well  done  good  and  faithful  servant, 
enter  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 


F.  M.  KTRKHAM. 


RANCIS  MARION  KTRKHAM  was  born  in  Schuyler 

County,  Illinois,  July  26,  1836 :  first-born  of  Ezra  M. 
and  Naomi  (nee  Johnson)  Kirkham.  When  he  was 
about  three  years  old  his  parents  removed  to  Van  Buren 
County,  Iowa,  in  the  then  Territory  of  Wisconsin.  And 
in  the  spring  of  1843  located  near  Drakeville  in  Davis 
County,  where  the  subject  of  this  sketch  grew  to 
manhood. 

Before  he  was  thirteen  his  mother  died ;  the  memory  of  whose 
patient  and  gentle  Christian  life,  has  ever  been  a  source  of 
inspiration  to  her  son.  His  parents  were  both  devoted  mem- 
bers of  the  Christian  church,  of  which  he  became  a  member  in 
his  sixteenth  year,  during  a  meeting  held  at  Drakeville,  in  1852, 
by  the  lamented  Aaron  Chatterton. 

On  January  1,  1857,  he  was  married  to  Miss  H.  Jennie  Drake, 
daughter  of  Hon.  John  A.  and  Harriet  J.  Drake  :  and  the  union 
has  continued  unbroken,  prosperous  and  happy  to  the  present 
time.  His  education  up  to  the  time  of  his  marriage,  was  that 
which  was  obtainable  in  the  schools  of  the  West  at  that  early 
day.  The  year  preceding  his  marriage  he  attended  a  select 
school  at  Drakeville,  conducted  by  E.  A.  Guess,  a  graduate  of 
Bethany  College.  His  fondness  for  books,  ere  this,  had  led 
him  to  read  works,  such  as  he  could  get,  on  History,  Biography, 
and  Metaphysics,  which  enabled  him  to  advance  rapidly  in 
school.  After  his  marriage  he  attended  for  several  months,  a 
select  school  kept  by  Prof.  Joseph  McCarty. 

At  this  time,  also,  he  began  reading  medicine  under  Dr.  Wm. 
M.  Quigley  and  graduated  at  the  Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  of 
Cincinnati,  O.,  in  1859.  He  then  practiced  with  Dr.  Quigley  for 
about  one  year,  when  he  removed  to  Taylor  County,  Iowa,  in- 

203 


204 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


tending  to  continue  the  practice  of  medicine  and  at  the  same 
time  having  an  interest  in  a  mercantile  firm.  But  the  war 
breaking  out,  deranging  his  business  plans,  he  returned  after 

ten  months,  to  Drakeville. 

In  September,  1863,  he  became  associated  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  Gen.  F.  M.  Drake,  who  was  then  in  the  army,  for  the 
purpose  of  doing  a  general  mercantile  business  at  Centerville, 
to  which  place  he  removed  and  took  charge  of  the  business.  In 
1865,  when  the  General  was  home  from  the  army,  Bro.  Kirkham 
removed  to  Albia  to  superintend  a  business  there,  under  the 
same  partnership.  But  not  succeeding  in  the  business  to  his 
satisfaction,  he  sold  out  to  another  brother-in-law,  J.  H.Drake. 

At  this  point,  he  had  reached  an  important  crisis  in  his  life. 
In  boyhood  he  had  a  strong  desire  to  be  a  preacher  of  the  gos- 
pel. That  desire  returned,  with  renewed  strength,  when  he 
saw  the  church  at  Albia,  in  a  low  condition,  both  spiritually 
and  financially.  With  the  help  of  his  wife,  they  took  the  lead 
in  putting  the  house  in  good  repair;  and  Elder  F.  Walden  was 
called  to  preach  for  the  church,  and  Bro.  Kirkham  took  charge 
of  the  Sunday-school,  which  soon  became  quite  prosperous  as 
did  the  church. 

In  1868,  A.  I.  Hobbs  held  a  meeting  at  Albia,  with  seventy- 
eight  additions,  when  that  unconquerable  desire  to  preach, 
came  with  tenfold  greater  power  than  ever.  And  by  the  counsel 
and  encouragement  of  both  Hobbs  and  Walden,  with  the  suc- 
cess attending  his  own  work  in  the  Sunday-school ;  refusing  the 
eounsel  of  many,  to  return  to  the  practice  of  medicine,  he  threw 
his  soul  into  the  one  great  purpose  of  preaching  the  gospel. 

At  that  time  B.  W.  Johnson  was  president  of  Oskaloosa  Col- 
lege, by  whose  advice  and  that  of  G.  T.  Carpenter,  with  that  of 
his  wife,  who  was  in  full  accord  with  him,  he  entered  that  in- 
stitution in  December,  1868.  He  continued  both  as  teacher  and 
student  till  the  close  of  the  session  in  1871,  when  he  went  to  the 
Bible  College  at  Lexington,  Kentucky.  Before  leaving  there,  he 
was  offered  a  professorship  in  the  Hocker  Female  College,  but 
declined,  returning  to  Drakeville,  Iowa,  and  in  1872  accepted  a 
call  to  preach  at  Centerville.  When  he  began  there,  the  mem- 
bership was  about  thirty-five,  with  no  house  of  worship,  but  at 
the  end  of  seven  years,  the  period  of  his  pastorate,  it  numbered 
226,  and  owned  one  of  the  best  houses  in  the  State. 


F.  M.  KIRKHAM. 


906 


His  next  field  of  labor  was  at  Bedford,  in  Taylor  Connty, 
whither  he  removed  in  December,  1879,  continuing  with  success 
till  October,  1881,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  a  call  from  the 
Western  Avenue  Christian  Church,  Chicago,  Illinois.  This  call 
was  for  three  months,  with  the  agreement  that  if  all  were 
satisfactory  at  the  expiration  of  that  time,  the  call  would  be 
permament.  The  call  was  confirmed,  but  failing  to  make 
satisfactory  arrangements  for  his  support,  the  call  was  declined, 
and  he  accepted  one  from  Marshall  town,  Iowa,  and  began  labor 
there  February  10,  1882,  where  he  still  resides.  However,  at 
this  writing  he  has  accepted  a  call  to  labor  for  the  church  at 
Los  Angeles,  California,  to  which  place  he  will  have  removed 
ere  this  sketch  appears  in  print. 

His  labors  have  been  blessed  in  all  the  churches  where  he  has 
preached,  and  his  counsels  have  been  of  value  in  the  annual 
conventions  where  the  interest  of  all  the  churches  are  consid- 
ered. He  has  taken,  also,  an  active  part  with  Allen  Hickey 
and  N.  A.  McConnell  its  projector,  in  organizing  the  Northeast- 
ern Iowa  Christian  Convention.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Drake  University.  Was  ordained  at 
Oakaloosa,  June  11, 1876.  upon  recommendation  of  the  churches 
at  Drakeville,  Centerville  and  Albia. 

I  n  personal  appearance,  about  five  feet  nine  inches  in  height ; 
weight  about  160  pounds;  cotopactly  built;  erect  and  graceful 
in  movement;  fair  complexion  ;  hair  dark  brown,  but  turning 
gray;  dresses  neatly  but  not  gaudily;  and  of  such  manners  as 
always  to  make  a  favorable  impression.  He  is  kind,  humble, 
without  self-conceit,  sympathetic,  careful  in  his  preaching,  and 
struggles  for  purity  of  sentiment.   He  is  an  excellent  pastor. 


LIVING  UNTO  CHRIST. 


BY  P.  M.  KIEKHAM. 


"The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us  ;  because  we  thus  judge, 
that  one  died  for  all,  therefore  all  died  ;  and  he  died  for  all, 
that  they  which  live  should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves, 
but  unto  him  who  for  their  sakesdied  and  rose  again."* — 2  Cor. 
5:14,  15. 

/f^SHE  sublime  and  beneficient  purposes  of  the 
gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  are  (1)  to  reveal 
God  to  man  ;  (2)  to  reveal  man  to  himself; 
in  order,  (3)  that  through  the  sentiments  of 
faith  and  hope  and  love,  actuating  him,  he 
may  he  "  delivered  out  of  the  power  of  darkness  and 
translated  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  his  love." 

Such  is  the  thorough  and  radical  nature  of  the 
changes  wrought  through  the  implanting  of  the 
sentiments  before  mentioned,  that  the  subject  of 
them  is  spoken  of  as  a  "  new  creature."  He  has, 
indeed,  heen  "born  again,"  "horn  anew,"  "horn 
from  above,"  and  consequently  sustains  new  re- 
lationships. God  is  now  his  Father ;  and  Jesus 
his  Savior,  his  Prophet,  his  Priest,  his  King.  He 
publicly  pledged  himself,  in  his  confession  of  faith 
in  Christ,  and  baptism  into  His  death,  wherein  he 
was  "  united  with  him  by  the  likeness  of  his  death." 

•  Text  and  quotations  mainly,  from  Revised  Version. 

207 


208 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


1.  To  live  vwro  Him  !  To  so  live,  is  the  opposite 
of  living  unto  self.  To  live  nnto  self,  is  to  make 
self  the  supreme  object  of  thought  and  care  and 
service.  It  is  to  seek  the  world's  glory  and  honor 
and  friendships.  It  is,  in  other  words,  to  make  self 
the  beginning  and  the  end  of  all  aims  and  pursuits, 
regardless  of  the  will  of  God ;  and  is  directly  op- 
posed to  the  purpose  of  man's  true  life,  which  is, 
and  should  ever  be,  to  live  unto  Him  who  for  man's 
sake  died  and  rose  again. 

This  involves  making  another,  even  Jesus,  the 
supreme  object  of  thought,  solicitude,  and  service; 
to  seek  to  do  His  will  in  all  things,  even  as  He  did 
His  Father's  will,  and,  in  so  doing,  serve  and  honor 
the  Father  in  Heaven,  as  He  served  and  honored 
Him.  The  spirit  of  devotedness  to  Jesus  is  exempli- 
fied in  His  devotedness  to  His  Father ;  as,  when  the 
shadows  of  the  cross  were  falling  about  Him,  and 
praying,  He  said,  "  0  my  Father,  if  it  be  possible, 
let  this  cup  pass  from  me ;  nevertheless  not  as  1 
will,  but  as  thou  wilt." 

2.  But  who  is  this  Jesus  ?  who,  as  king,  demands 
the  service  of  our  lives  ;  who,  as  teacher,  claims  the 
ability  to  guide  us  with  absolute  certainty  to  eternal 
life  and  blessedness ;  and  who,  as  priest,  points  us  to 
the  meritoriousness  and  all-sufficiency  of  His  blood 
to  redeem  those  who  are  in  bondage  to  sin  and  death. 
Let  G-od's  own  answer,  as  He  has  borne  testimony 
concerning  Him  be  reverently  received  and  pondered. 

After  that  great  moral  rebellion,  and  catastrophe 
in  which  our  First  Parents  were  involved,  and  with 


LIVING  UNTO  CHKIST. 


209 


them  their  decendants  to  the  end  of  time,  the  pro- 
phetic declaration  went  forth  that  the  seed  of  the 
woman  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  This  revela- 
tion, foreshadowing  the  purpose  of  God  concerning 
a  Redeemer,  was  gradually  unfolded  until  "the  full- 
ness of  the  time  was  come  "  when  "  a  virgin  shall 
conceive  and  bear  a  son  whose  name  shall  be  called 
Wonderful,  Counsellor,  The  Mighty  God,  The  Ever- 
lasting Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace."  The  ahgel 
Gabriel  was  sent  from  God  to  a  virgin  whose  name 
was  Mary,  and  said,  "Hail  thou  that  art  highly 
favored,  the  Lord  is  with  thee:  blessed  art  thou 
among  women.  Behold  thou  shalt  conceive  in  thy 
womb,  and  bring  forth  a  son  and  thou  shalt  call  his 
name  Jesus.  He  shall  be  great  and  shall  be  called 
the  Son  of  the  Highest.  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come 
upon  thee  and  the  power  of  the  Highest  shall  over- 
shadow thee ;  therefore  also  that  holy  thing  which 
shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son  of 
God."  And  this  is  the  glorious  personage  of  whom 
it  is  written.  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and 
the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God. 
All  things  were  made  by  Him ;  and  without  Him 
was  not  anything  made  that  was  made.  In  Him  was 
life;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men."  And  the 
Word  became  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us."  Of  Him 
it  is  further  said,  "Who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible 
God,  the  first-born  of  all  creation,  for  in  Him  were 
all  things  created  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the  earth, 
all  things  have  been  created  through  Him  and  unto 

Him ;  and  He  is  before  all  things  and  in  Him  all 
14 


310 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


things  hold  together.  He  is  the  effulgence  of  the 
Father's  glory  and  the  very  image  of  His  substance, 
who  "  when  he  had  made  purification  of  sins  sat 
down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high," 
angels  and  principalities  and  powers  l>eing  made  sub- 
ject unto  Him.  In  these  quotations,  from  the  Word 
of  God,  are  set  forth  the  pre-existence  and  Divine 
nature  and  glory  of  the  Christ,  who  is  Immanuel. 

But  while  He  is  "  the  Son  of  God,"  and  hence 
equal  with  the  Father ;  He  is,  at  the  same  time,  "  the 
Son  of  Man."  For  the  mysterious  promise  was, 
that  the  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the  serpent's 
head.  He  was  accordingly  "  bom  of  a  woman,  born 
under  the  law,  that  he  might  redeem  them  which 
were  under  law  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption 
of  sons."  Behold  Him !  "who  being  in  the  form  of 
God,  counted  it  not  a  prize  to  be  on  an  equality 
with  God  ;  but  emptied  himself  taking  the  form  of 
a  servant,  being  made  in  the  likeness  of  men  ;  and 
being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man  He  humbled  him- 
self, becoming  obedient  even  unto  death,  yea.  the 
death  of  the  cross."  These  bring  Him  down  to  the 
plane  of  earth's  lowliest  and  vilest  and  most  sorrow- 
ful ones  ;  bring  Him  within  reach  of  every  sin-bur- 
dened, sin-cursed,  and  death-bound  soul.  "Since 
then  the  children  are  sharers  in  flesh  and  blood,  He 
also  himself  in  like  manner  partook  of  the  same ; 
that  through  death  He  might  bring  to  nought  him 
that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil ;  and 
might  deliver  all  them  who  through  fear  of  death 
were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage." 


LIVING  UNTO  CHRIST. 


211 


In  the  condescension  of  the  incarnation  our  ad- 
miration and  wonder  are  evoked ;  hut  not  only  so, 
gratitude  and  love.  For  "Behold  the  man!"  the 
"  man  of  sorrows,"  "  whose  visage  was  so  marred 
more  than  any  man,  and  His  form  more  than  the 
sons  of  men,"  "  He  gave  His  back  to  the  smiters  and 
His  cheeks  to  them  that  plucked  off  the  hair ;  He  hid 
not  His  face  from  shame  and  spitting."  Truly,  "He 
hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sorrows ;  He 
was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  He  was  bruised 
for  our  iniquities;  the  chastisement  of  our  peace 
was  upon  Him  and  with  His  stripes  we  are  healed;  " 
"Who  His  ownself  bore  our  sins  in  His  own  body 
upon  the  tree,  that  we,  having  died  unto  sins  might 
live  unto  righteousness."  Thus  it  was,  He  became 
a  Deliverer,  a  Redeemer  for  man,  in  that  "  He  was 
delivered  up  (to  death)  for  our  trespasses  and  raised 
(from  the  dead)  for  our  justification."  In  all  this 
we  have  the  highest  exhibition  of  God's  love  for 
sinful  men ;  and  the  fullest  assurance,  that  "  He  that 
spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  delivered  Him  up  for 
us  all,  will,  with  Him,  freely  give  us  all  things."  In 
His  two-fold  nature  as  the  God-man,  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  Son  of  Man,  and  His  three-fold  official  re- 
lations, as  the  One  Mediator  between  God  and  men, 
by  virtue  of  which  He  officiates  as  Prophet,  Priest, 
and  King ;  He  meets  all  the  wants  of  man  both  for 
time  and  for  eternity.  He  has  not  only  made  sal- 
vation possible ;  but  He  is  willing  and  "  able  to  save 
to  the  uttermost  them  that  draw  near  unto  God 
through  Him,  seeing  he  ever  liveth  to  make  in- 


212 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


tercession  for  them."  It  is  hence  man's  highest 
privilege  and  his  most  solemn  duty  to  live  unto 
Christ ;  that  is,  to  seek  at  all  times  and  in  all  places 
and  under  all  circumstances  to  know  and  to  do  His 
will  in  all  things ;  and  in  so  doing,  attain  the  true 
end  of  His  being. 

n.  conditions  or  its  accomplishment. 

1.  Faith  in  Him  is  the  primal  condition  on 
marts  part.  There  must  be  unquestioning  confi- 
dence in  Him  as  an  all-sufficient  Savior.  This  faith 
is  the  searching  out  of  the  soul  to  Him  for  help. 
It  is  not  the  mere  assent  of  the  mind  to  the  proposi- 
tion that,  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God ;  but 
the  surrendering  up  of  self  to  Him  in  "  full  assur- 
ance "  that  He  is  able  and  willing  to  deliver  from  the 
power  of  the  Adversary ;  and  to  give  rest,  and  peace, 
and  joy,  and  victory  over  death;  and  to  invest  at 
last  with  "  glory,  honor,  incorruption — eternal  life." 
Such  a  faith  as  this  will  inspire  the  soul  with  such 
gratitude  and  love,  as  will  seek  expression  in  a  life. 
These  sentiments  in  the  soul  cannot  remain  in  a 
quiescent  state.  They  will  seek  manifestation. 
There  must  be  an  outflow  in  order  that  the  fountain 
of  the  new  life  in  the  redeemed  and  purified  spirit 
may  not  become  stagnant.  This  fountain  of  eternal 
life  is  "  living  water,"  and  not  stagnant  or  dead 
water.  Accordingly  the  final  condition  on  man's 
part  is, 

2.  The  "obedience  of  faith."  The  gospel  was 
preached  to  all  nations  for  the  obedience  of  faith." 


LIVING  UNTO  OHRI8T. 


218 


Jesus  "  became  the  author  of  eternal  salvation  to  all 
them  that  obey  Him."  It  is  by  obedience  that  faith 
is  made  perfect — becomes  a  justifying  faith.  But 
the  obedience  required  is  not  such  as  man  might  de- 
vise and  choose  ;  but  such  as  Divine  wisdom  and 
love  have  appointed.  Accordingly,  the  first  act  of 
formal  obedience  is  one  in  which  the  whole  man, 
spirit,  soul,  and  body  is  solemnly  pledged  to  the  life- 
long service  of  this  new  Master,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
In  this  significant  act  he  renounces  the  life  of  the  "  old 
man"  with  its  deceitful  lusts;  and  enters  upon  the 
"  new  life  "  in  Christ  Jesus.  With  Him  and  in  Him, 
the  power  of  Grod,  in-working  and  out-working,  has 
started  on  the  upward  and  heavenly  way,  "  the 
highway  of  holiness,"  a  soul  which  was  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins;  but  now  quickened  by  a  faith 
that  looks  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen,  and  to 
Him  who  is  invisible ;  animated  by  a  hope  which 
enters  to  that  within  the  veil,  whither  Jesus  the 
fore-runner  has  entered ;  and  imbued  and  moved  and 
controled  by  a  love  which  is  of  celestial  origin; 
which  has,  indeed,  been  shed  abroad  in  his  renewed 
heart  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  is  transformed  more  and 
more,  from  day  to  day,  into  the  image  of  Christ,  who 
is  his  life,  his  inspiration,  his  all.  There  can  be  no 
obligation  more  solemn  and  binding  than  that  as- 
sumed in  making  a  personal  surrender  to  Christ  in 
baptism,  in  His  name,  into  the  name  of  the  Father, 
the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  in  part  from  this 
consideration  that  it  has  been  called  a  "  sacrament," 
from  sacrcmentvm,  an  oath  or  solemn  pledge  taken 


214 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


by  a  soldier  to  "be  faithful  to  his  commander;  so 

baptism  is  the  solemn  pledge  of  the  believer,  to  be 
faithful,  unto  death,  to  his  commander,  the  great 
Captain  of  salvation.  It  is  the  marriage  ceremony 
which  unites  us  to  Him  from  whom  the  affections 
should  never  for  a  moment  be  estranged.  Christ  is 
at  the  same  time  pledged  to  the  baptized  believer  for 
the  fulfillment  of  the  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises  of  the  gospel;  and  His  word  of  promise  can- 
not fail.  There  can  therefore  be  no  abandonment  on 
the  part  of  the  Christian  of  his  high  calling,  without 
shame,  disgrace  and  eternal  loss.  And  thus  it  is,  as 
he  lives  unto  Him,  he  is  becoming  meet  for  the  in- 
heritance of  the  saints  in  light. 

TTT      BEA80NS  AND  MOTIVES  FOR  SO  LIVING. 

1.  It  is  essential  to  the  new  life  acquired  in 
Christ  Jesus.  It  is  a  moral  impossibility  to  live 
otherwise.  "  How  shall  we  who  died  to  sin  live  any 
longer  therein  ? "  was  the  sentiment  and  searching 
question  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  The  Christian  has 
died  to  his  former  life.  "The  old  man  was  crucified 
with  Him."  "The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us: 
because  we  thus  judge  that  one  died  for  all,  there- 
fore all  died?''  When  He  died  on  the  cross  he  died 
as  the  representative  of  humanity,  for  all  men; 
"  therefore,  all  died."  Bat  while  Christ  died  for  all 
it  is  made  available  to  such  as  have  voluntarily 
sinned  only  as  they  voluntarily,  by  faith  and 
obedience,  appropriate  to  themselves,  Christ,  "who 


LIVING  UNTO  CHRIST. 


215 


is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one 
that  believes ; "  "  the  author  of  eternal  salvation  to 
all  them  that  obey  Him.  " 

2.  A  second  reason  for  so  living,  is,  that  it  was 
signified  and  involved  in  our  baptism.  We  were 
"  buried  with  Him  by  baptism  into  death."  Our 
death  to — separation  from — our  old  life  was  signi- 
fied in  baptism.  It  is  an  act  of  personal  surrender 
and  of  sublimest  faith  in  the  fundamental  facts  of 
the  gospel — the  death,  burial  and  resurrection  of 
the  Son  of  God;  and  in  which  these  are  beautifully 
and  impressively  set  forth.  The  soul  having  ceased 
to  love  sin,  being  indeed  "dead  to  sin,"  the  body, 
and  with  it  the  whole  man,  is  symbolically  buried 
in  water  and  raised  up  out  of  the  water,  now 
evermore  to  walk  in  newness  of  life.  In  this  act  of 
consecration  to  the  service  of  Christ,  in  which  his 
body  was  "  washed  with  pure  water,"  his  heart  at 
the  same  time  was  "  sprinkled  from  an  evil  con- 
science." It  (baptism)  is  not,  as  says  the  Apostle 
Peter,  "  the  putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh, 
but  the  interrogation,  (or  rather  perhaps  the  obtain- 
ing) of  a  good  conscience  towards  God."  In  this 
act  of  faith  his  thoughts  are  turned  away  from  self 
and  all  mere  "  works  of  righteousness,"  to  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ  which  is  of  grace  through  faith. 
That  baptism  as  a  condition  of  salvation  does  not 
belong  to  the  sphere  of  works  of  righteousness,  but 
to  an  entirely  different  realm  is  evident  from  the 
testimony  of  the  Apostle  Paul :  "  When  the  kind- 
ness of  God  our  Savior,  and  His  love  toward  TnH" 


216 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


appeared,  not  by  works  done  in  righteousness 
which  we  did  ourselves,  but  according  to  his  nit  rcy 
he  saved  us,  through  the  washing  of  regeneration 
(baptism)  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which 
he  poured  out  upon  us  richly,  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Savior;  that,  being  justified  by  His  grace,  we 
might  be  made  heirs  according  to  the  hope  of  eter- 
nal life."  (^Titus  3:4,  7.)  His  now  perfected  faith 
in  Christ  is  counted  to  him  for  right  rousness; 
and  all  boasting  and  glorying  are  excluded,  except 
boasting  and  glorying  in  Christ.  Hence  the  declar- 
ation of  this  same  Apostle;  "Being  therefore,  justi- 
fied by  faith,  let  us  have  peace  with  God  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

The  whole  record  of  the  past  life  of  sin  when  he- 
walked  in  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes, 
and  the  pride  of  life,  attaches  to  him  no  longer.  Sin 
no  longer  domineers  over  him,  for  he  is  not  under 
law  but  under  grace.  He  is  not  however,  without 
law,  for  he  is  under  law  to  Chr  ist,  whose  he  now  is, 
and  whom  evermore  he  is  gratefully  and  lovingly  to 
serve,  following  Him  through  evil  as  well  as  good 
report.  Having  been  in  this  act  of  obedience. 
u  united  with  Him  in  the  likeness  of  His  death,  we 
shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of  His  resurrection." 
(Rom.  6 : 5.) 

This  is  the  believer's  hope:  "Shall  be  also  in  the 
likeness  of  His  resurrection."  By  this  hope  he  is 
saved,  the  hope  of  the  adoption,  to- wit,  the  redemp- 
tion of  our  body."  He  that  has  this  hope,  desiring 
the  true,  the  divine  life ;  and  expecting  its  full 


LIVING  UNTO  CHRIST. 


217 


fruition  by  and  "by,  at  the  "  resurrection  of  the  just," 
"  purifieth  himself  even  as  He  (Christ)  is  pure."  It 
is  therefore,  one  of  the  great  motives  influencing  to 
right  living,  which  is  to  live  unto  Christ. 

The  final  all  controlling  and  all  embracing  motive 
is  love.  "  We  love  Him  because  He  first  loved  us." 
The  heart  which  through  faith  in  Christ  has  been 
purified  from  the  love  of  sin,  and  through  the  obedi- 
ence of  the-  faith,  from  the  guilt  and  condemnation 
of  sin  has  been  advanced  to  the  high  sphere  of  love 
— love  to  God  and  love  to  man.  It  now  remains  to 
abide  in  this  exalted  realm.  To  keep  himself  in 
"  the  love  of  God,"  for  in  so  doing  he  can  never  fall. 
He  is  never  so  happy  as  when  planning  and  toiling 
and  sacrificing  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  king- 
dom of  his  divine  Lord  and  Master.  He  evermore 
remembers  his  former  lost  condition  and  the  price- 
less ransom  paid  for  his  redemption;  and  these, 
reacting  upon  him,  increase  his  zeal  and  gratitude 
and  love  so  that  he  "rejoices  evermore,"  rejoices 
even  in  suffering  for  Christ's  sake. 

Living  thus  unto  Christ,  he  is  realizing  God's  pur- 
poses concerning  man.  To  thus  live  is  to  live 
"  soberly,"  rightly  toward  one's  self ;  "  righteously," 
rightly  toward  one's  fellow-men;  and  "godly," 
rightly  toward  God. 

He  is,  however,  conscious,  at  all  times,  of  his  own 
weakness ;  realizing  that  it  is  through  the  grace  of 
Christ  that  he  is  overcoming  the  world,  the  flesh,  and 
Satan,  as  he  thus  lives  unto  Him  who  is  his  life.  He 
looks  to  Christ  for  wisdom,  and  guidance,  and  sup- 


218 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


port,  and  redemption;  and  from  the  depths  of  his 
loving  and  trusting  heart  can  sing, 

"Christ  is  my  everlasting  all, 
To  Him  I  look,  on  Him  I  call ; 
To  Him  devote  my  fleeting  honrs, 
Serve  Him  alone  with  all  my  powers.*- 

May  we  ever  "be  able,  in  the  words  of  onr  text,  to 
say,  ''The  love  of  Christ  consrraineth  us;  becanse 
we  thus  judge,  that  one  died  for  all,  therefore  all 
died;  and  He  died  for  all,  that  they  which  live 
should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  Him 
who  for  their  sakes  died  and  rose  again ;  so,  when 
Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall  be  manifested,  then 
shall  ye  also  with  Him  be  manifested  in  glory." 
Amen. 


H.  U.  DALE. 


H.  U.  DALE. 


IRAM  Uriah  Dale  is  of  German  descent,  except  his 
father's  mother  who  was  Irish.  He  was  born  in  isew 
Lexington,  Ohio,  April  8,  1839.  His  parents  were 
born  in  America  but  his  grandparents  in  Europe,  and 
on  the  father's  side  were  strict  Presbyterians.  His 
father  when  an  infant  was  christened  in  that  church 
and  brought  up  under  its  influence,  but,  in  1839 
united  with  the  Church  of  Christ. 

In  the  Spring  of  1848,  he  removed  with  his  parents  to  an 
eighty  acre  tract  of  land  in  the  thick  woods  near  Logansport, 
Indiana.  Here  he  found  employment  at  burning  brush,  roll- 
ing logs,  and  also  learned  from  his  father  the  brick  mason's 
trade. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1858,  under  the  preaching  of  Elder  E. 
Thompson  and  William  Griggsby,  he  united  with  the  Christian 
Church  at  Logansport  in  company  with  his  mother.  H.  U. 
soon  determined  to  educate  himself  for  usefulness  in  his  new 
career,  and  accordingly  entered  a  Normal  school  at  Burnetts- 
ville,  conducted  by  Prof.  J.  Baldwin,  who  was  also  one  of  our 
preachers. 

He  had  a  rugged  road  before  him,  and  cannot  describe  the 
struggle  through  which  he  passed  in  trying  to  qualify  himself 
for  a  preacher. 

In  1863,  he  went  to  Hiram  College,  where  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  H.  W.  Everest,  who  proved  to  be  a  true  and 
fast  friend,  and  to  whom  he  feels  under  lasting  obligation  for 
kindness  and  encouragement. 

In  1864  when  Everest  took  charge  of  Eureka  College,  Dale 
went  there  and  continued  until  he  graduated  in  the  classic 
course  in  1868.  He  then  went  to  Swampscott,  Massachusetts, 
and  spent  a  year  in  preaching,  when  the  severity  of  the  coast 
climate  drove  him  west. 

219 


220 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT 


Consequently  in  1870  he  began  preaching  for  the  church  at 
Trenton,  Mo.,  and  labored  for  them  in  all,  nearly  seven  years, 
building  up  out  of  fragments  occasioned  by  the  war,  a  Btroug 
church. 

During  this  time  (Oct.  9, 1873)  he  returned  to  Eureka,  to  more 
fully  complete  his  education,  and  took  from  Prof.  J.  M.  Allen 
an  advanced  degree,  by  being  married  to  Miss  Mary  Leona 
Boggs,  a  diploma  which  does  him  great  honor. 

At  the  present  time  he  is  pastor  of  the  church  at  Center- 
ville,  Iowa. 

In  personal  appearance  Bro.  Dale  is  about  five  feet,  nine 
inches;  weighs  about  200  pounds;  considerably  gray  and  bald. 

He  is  amiable  and  genial  among  his  fellow-preachers ;  tender 
in  his  nature,  with  a  marked  affection  for  his  family  ;  a  close 
and  thorough  student,  with  strong  convictions  concerning  his 
conclusions,  though  not  dogmatic;  a  good  reasoner  and  an 
able  preacher. 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


BT  H.  U.  DALE. 


HERE  is  no  subject  more  vital  to  our  hap- 
piness on  earth  and  to  our  preparation  for 
eternity  than  the  relation  of  the  sexes.  Even 
in  a  state  of  innocence  in  the  garden  of 
Eden,  although  man  was  favored  with  the 
society  of  God  Himself,  yet  his  happiness  was  not 
complete  without  a  wedded  companion.  All  govern- 
ment, both  human  and  divine,  so  far  as  this  life  is 
concerned,  rests  on  the  family  relation  and  this  in 
return  upon  the  institution  of  marriage ;  destroy  the 
latter,  the  whole  superstructure  tumbles  into  ruins 
and  anarchy  prevails.  Therefore,  no  system  of 
morals  or  philosophy  can  control  the  masses  unless 
it  organizes  and  molds  the  families  and  this  it  can- 
not do  unless  it  has  the  supervision  of  marriage. 
Hence  if  the  Word  of  God  is  a  perfect  guide  it  must 
not  only  furnish  ample  instruction  upon  this  all-im- 
portant subject  but  it  must  take  absolute  control  of 
the  same.  On  account  of  a  false  modesty,  which 
shows  the  absence  of  true  modesty,  our  subject  has 
been  considered  too  delicate  for  public  investiga- 
tion ;  but  if  there  is  anything  wrong,  it  is  in  us  and 

221 


223 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


not  in  the  subject.  It  was  not  an  inappropriate 
theme  for  the  prophets  nor  for  John  the  Baptist, 
nor  for  Christ,  nor  for  the  Apostles.  It  speaks  very 
badly  for  a  man's  heart  when  his  religion  is  so  sub- 
limated that  he  considers  the  doctrine  of  Christ  and 
the  Apostles  immodest  and  indelicate.  Away  with 
such  Phariseeism !  Paul's  rule  applies  here :  "  Unto 
the  pure  all  things  are  pure ;  but  unto  them  that  are 
defiled  and  unbelieving  is  nothing  pure."  (Titus  1 : 
15).    Let  us  notice : 

I.  The  origin  and  nature  of  marriage. 

When  the  animals  in  one  continuous  procession 
passed  before  Adam  to  receive  their  respective 
names,  we  are  told  that  in  all  that  countless  host, 
the  vast  creation  of  God,  that,  "For  Adam  there 
was  not  found  an  help-meet."  "And  the  Lord  God 
said  it  is  not  good  that  man  should  be  alone" 
(Gen.  2  : 18);  or  as  Adam  Clark  has  it,  "  not  good  the 
man  being  only  himself."  History  demonstrates 
the  truthfulness  of  this  statement ;  separate  the 
sexes,  you  at  once  make  havoc  of  the  finest  sen- 
sibilities of  the  heart  and  render  it  as  impossible 
for  them  to  rise  to  the  highest  degree  of  excellence 
as  it  is  to  slake  our  thirst  without  drink  or  appease 
our  appetite  without  food.  Thus  did  not  sailors  and 
armies  of  men  and  unmixed  schools,  deprived  of  the 
society  of  the  opposite  sex,  become  coarse  and  rude 
and  demoralized,  they  would  not  be  true  to  theii 
nature.  But  the  history  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  puts  this  statement  beyond  question.  The 
history  of  its  celibacy  both  in  reference  to  its  priests 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


223 


and  "  sisters  of  charity "  discloses  the  basest  de- 
bauchery and  vilest  whoredom ;  so  much  so  that  the 
inspired  penman  terms  the  Roman  church,  "The 
mother  of  harlots/'  God  meant  something  when 
He  said,  "It  is  not  good  that  man  should  be  alone." 

The  Lord  adds,  "  I  will  make  him  a  help-meet  for 
him"  (Gen.  2  : 18).  The  Hebrew  phrase  here  ren- 
dered "  help-meet  for  him  "  is  defined  by  Bagster's 
Hebrew  Lexicon,  "help  as  over  against  him,  corres- 
ponding to  him,  one  like  him."  Smith's  Bible  Dic- 
tionary renders  it,  "  The  exact  counterpart  of 
himself."  Our  rendering  is  not  a  bad  one,  "help- 
meet" that  is  "help,"  "  meet,"  fit,  suitable  for  him, 
in  every  way  adopted  to  the  wants  of  man,  physic- 
ally, intellectually  and  morally. 

The  following  touching  account  is  wonderful  for 
its  brevity,  simplicity,  beauty  and  preciousness ! 
"What  would  the  world  be  without  these  few  lines  ? 

"  And  the  Lord  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall 
upon  Adam  and  he  slept ;  and  he  took  one  of  his 
ribs  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof.  And 
the  rib  which  the  Lord  God  had  taken  from  man 
made  He  a  woman  and  brought  her  unto  the  man. 
And  Adam  said,  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones  and 
flesh  of  my  flesh :  she  shall  be  called  Woman,  be- 
cause she  was  taken  out  of  man.  Therefore  shall  a 
man  leave  his  father  and  mother  and  shall  cleave 
unto  his  wife  and  they  shall  be  one  flesh"  (Gen. 
2 : 21-24). 

The  word  Tsela  which  is  here  translated  rib  also 
means  side.    On  this  Bro.  A.  Campbell  remarks : 


224 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


"  In  our  common  version  of  the  Bible  we  are  led  to 
believe  that  our  mother  Eve  was  created  out  of  a 
crooked  rib.  This  does  not  well  comport  with  her 
character  and  sensibilities.  The  original  Ts ela,  is 
however,  a  word  of  two  meanings,  indicative  both  of 
side  and  rib." 

Thus  God  took  her  not  from  his  head  that  she 
should  reign  over  him,  nor  from  his  feet  that  he 
should  trample  her  in  the  dust,  but  from  his  side 
near  his  heart,  that  she  should  stand  by  his  side,  a 
companion,  mutually  sharing  the  joys  and  sorrows 
of  life.  Whatever  opinions  in  these  degenerate  days 
may  be  advocated  concerning  the  superiority  of  the 
one  sex  over  the  other,  we  are  certain  there  were  no 
such  discriminations  then  made.  This  is  apparent 
from  the  names  given  to  mother  Eve  both  by  her 
husband  and  her  Creator.  God  called  her  Isha, 
the  feminine  of  Ish,  the  Hebrew  word  for  man ;  the 
literal  rendering  of  the  former  is  maness  and  of  the 
latter  man.  The  Greek,  Arabic  and  Latin  have  the 
same  form  of  expression.  In  harmony  with  this  we 
are  told  that  in  the  day  that  they  were  created  God 
called  their  name,  not  Ms,  Adam.  Thus  the  one 
was  just  as  human  and  just  as  divine  as  the  other. 
Think  not  that  it  happened  by  chance  that  God 
made  her  out  of  a  part  of  the  man,  for  He  could 
have  as  easily  formed  her  from  the  dust  as  He  did 
Adam  or  have  created  her  from  nothing;  but  how 
different  it  would  have  been  to  Adam.  She  then 
would  have  been  an  independent  creation— not  of 
his  flesh  and  of  his  bones — not  a  second  self.  How 


Marriage  and  divorce. 


225 


simple,  how  beautiful,  how  grand,  how  expressive, 
how  forcible  is  the  marriage  relation  herein  pre- 
sented !  Can  we  conceive  of  any  other  way  in  which 
such  identity  of  husband  and  wife  could  have  been 
shown? 

This  is  an  object  lesson  on  the  subject  and  teaches 
that  a  man  should  love  his  wife  as  dearly  as  his  own 
body,  and  that  he  should  no  more  think  of  unjustly 
putting  her  away  than  of  tearing  his  flesh  from  his 
bones.  No  wonder  that  Adam  after  receiving  such 
a  lesson  responded:  "Therefore  shall  a  man  leave 
his  father  and  his  mother  and  shall  cleave  unto  his 
wife  and  they  shall  be  one  flesh." 

There  is  not  a  vestige  of  authority  for  polygamy 
here.  The  singular  is  used  throughout.  God  made 
the  rib  into  a  woman  not  women,  brought  her  not 
them  unto  the  man.  Adam  said  this  not  these,  is, 
not  are,  bone  of  my  bones  and  flesh  of  my  flesh ;  she 
not  they,  shall  be  called  woman  not  women,  and  a 
man  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife  not  wives.  It  is  also 
stated  that  "  male  and  female  created  He  them." 
Literally  "a  male  and  a  female  created  He  them ;" 
showing  that  there  was  only  one  of  each. 

From  the  foregoing  we  conclude  that  God  is  the 
author  of  marriage  and  hence  it  is  divine ;  that  it  is 
founded  upon  man's  nature  and  is  therefore  compati- 
ble with  the  highest  degree  of  purity ;  and  that 
monogamy  and  not  polygamy  was  first  instituted. 

II.  Did  the  fall  change  their  marital  relation? 

The  fall  not  only  changed  their  relation  to  each 
other,  but  to  God  and  to  the  entire  universe.  There 


226 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


were  three  involved  in  it ;  Satan,  the  woman  and  the 

man.  Sentence  was  pronounced  first  on  Satan,  then 
on  the  woman  and  finally  on  the  man.  God  said  to 
Satan:  "I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the 
woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed ;  it  shall 
bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel" 
(Gen.  3 : 15).  Here  is  a  marvelous  expression  of 
God's  love.  In  pronouncing  the  doom  of  Satan  He 
gave  to  the  woman  a  promise  of  infinite  importance, 
the  promise  of  victory,  her  seed  should  bruise 
'Satan's  head.  At  this  stage  of  humiliation  and 
guilt,  when  she  had  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  Him 
whose  law  she  had  wickedly  violated,  when  she 
knew  not  the  suffering  and  torment  that  awaited 
her,  save  that  the  sentence  of  death  was  already 
passed,  for  God  had  said,  "In  the  day  that  thou 
eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die,"  think  you  not 
that  this  glorious  promise  cheered  and  strengthened 
her  to  hear  her  awful  fate?  To  her  it  was  no  little 
thing  to  know  that  all  was  not  lost  and  that  God 
still  loved  her.  After  having  thus  prepared  the  way 
God  said  unto  her,  "  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy  sor- 
row and  thy  conception;  in  sorrow  thou  shalt  bring 
forth  children;  and  thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy 
husband,  and  he  shall  rule  over  thee"    (Gen.  3 : 16). 

The  first  part  of  this  judgment  is  generally 
thought  to  refer  to  the  entire  period  of  gestation  and 
parturition;  in  this  respect  her  sufferings  are  far 
more  intense  than  those  of  the  animals. 

The  latter  part  foretells  her  subjection  to  her  hus- 
band: "Thy  desire  shall  be  unto  thy  husband  and 
he  shall  rule  over  thee." 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


227 


It  requires  but  little  knowledge  of  history  to 
know  that  woman  in  heathen  lands  always  lias  been 
and  now  is  the  slave  of  man.  A  single  quotation 
must  suffice.  In  proof  of  this  we  shall  not  quote 
from  the  most  debased  heathen  nations,  but  from  a 
people  who  not  only  in  their  day  were  peerless  in 
intellectual  culture,  but  who  had  some  men  that 
even  to-day  are  regarded  as  intellectual  prodigies. 
Let  us  go  to  Athens,  the  capitol  of  the  ancient  State 
of  Attica.  Yes,  republican  Athens !  Athens  that 
could  boast  of  such  intellectual  giants  as  Plato, 
Socrates,  Aristotle,  Antisthenes,  Zeno,  Solon,  The- 
mistocles,  Cimon,  Pericles  and  Demosthenes  the 
prince  of  orators. 

Speaking  of  the  highest  state  of  civilization,  phil- 
osophy and  learning,  the  Encyclopedia  of  Religious 
Knowledge  says:  "Athens  enjoyed  all  these  advan- 
tages in  a  measure  which  scarcely  any  other  city 
that  ever  existed  in  the  world  could  boast  of.  The 
activity,  the  emulation,  the  free  scope  to  talents  of 
every  description  which  were  excited  by  her  popu- 
lar form  of  government,  raised  her  to  the  highest 
pinnacle  of  political  consequence. 

The  multitude  of  great  men  in  every  department, 
who  followed  eacli  other  in  splendid  succession,  even 
to  her  last  decline  is  altogether  unexampled. '  In 
every  branch  of  science,  philosophy  and  literature, 
.  Ithens  was  renowned." 

Here  is  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  from  the  time  it 
was  begun  until  it  was  finished,  700  years  elapsed. 
Philistratus  calls  it  a  struggle  with  time,  and  Aris- 


228 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


totle  calls  it  a  work  of  despotic  grandeur,  and  equal 
to  the  pyramids  of  Egypt. 

Ascending  the  Acropolis  we  are  inspired  with  hope. 
Here  is  the  temple  of  Minerva,  a  goddess  of  the 
Romans,  identical  to  the  goddess  Athene,  of  the 
Greeks.  This  virgin  goddess  was  considered  the 
very  embodiment  of  intellectual  greatness.  She  had 
the  charge  of  philosophy,  poetry,  oratory,  and  was 
even  believed  to  have  founded  the  court  of  justice, 
on  Mars  Hills — the  Areopagus. 

On  the  Acropolis  stood  her  temple  of  white  mar- 
ble, even  the  ruins  of  which  to-day  are  among  the 
wonders  of  the  world.  "Within  was  the  statue  of 
this  goddess,  by  Phidias,  the  masterpiece  of  the  art 
of  statuary.  It  was  thirty-nine  feet  high,  made  of 
ivory  and  overlaid  with  pure  gold  at  the  cost  of 
twenty-four  talents,  or  nearly  $500,000.  Surely  a 
people  so  cultured  in  intellect  and  art,  and  who  bow 
at  the  shrine  of  such  a  goddess,  will  not  tyrannize 
over  woman.  What  Says  history  ?  "In  Republican 
Athens,  man  was  everything  and  woman  nothing. 
Women  were  literally  the  serfs  of  the  family  inherit- 
ance, whether  that  inheritance  consisted  in  land  or 
money;  they  were  made  with  other  property,  the 
subj  ect  of  testamentary  bequest ;  and  whatever  de- 
lights heirship  might  convey  to  an  Athenian  lady, 
freedom  of  person  or  inclination  was  not  among  the 
number.  Single  or  wedded,  she  became  by  the  mere 
acquisition  of  property,  at  the  mercy  of  the  nearest 
male  relative  in  succession.  She  could  be  brought 
from  the  dull  solicitude  of  the  gymnasium  to  become 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


229 


an  unwilling  bride ;  or  she  could  be  torn  from  the 

object  of  her  wedded  affection,  to  form  new  ties  with 
perhaps  the  most  disagreeable  of  mankind.  And  if 
under  any  of  these  circumstances  nature  became 
more  powerful  than  virtue,  life  was  the  penalty  paid 
for  the  transgression,"  (Horne,  vol.  1,  p.  19  )  Many 
similar  quotations  could  be  made,  but  the  foregoing 
must  suffice. 

In  the  early  scriptural  history  of  man,  but  little  is 
said  of  woman.  For  200  years,  only  five  names  of 
women  escaped  oblivion,  so  prostrate  had  she  fallen. 

An  important  question  arises  here.  Is  this  an  en- 
actment of  God,  a  decree  that  the  desires  of  the 
woman  shall  be  subject  to  her  husband,  and  that  he 
shall  thus  tyrannize  over  her,  or  is  it  a  prophecy  of 
what  shall  ensue  as  a  result  of  sin  ?  If  the  latter,  then 
as  we  gain  the  mastery  over  sin,  to  that  degree  will 
woman  regain  her  former  position,  and  her  husband 
will  love  her  and  cherish  her  as  his  own  flesh. 

Not  only  do  we  believe  that  it  was  prophetical  and 
not  decreed,  but  also  believe  that  God  then  imme- 
diately began  a  system  whereby  woman  would  be 
reinstated. 

HI.  God's  method  to  reinstate  woman. 

1.  His  promise  of  victory  that  the  seed  of  woman 
should  bruise  the  serpent's  head. 

2.  The  strictest  legislation  against  adultery.  On 
the  mount,  God  Himself  inscribed  upon  the  tablets 
of  stone,  "Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery."  Again, 
"The  adulterer  an  I  adulteress,  God  will  judge;" 
and  "The  adulterer  and  adulteress  shall  surely  be 
put  to  death. 


230 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


3.  Law  against  polygamy.  "Neither  shalt  thou 
take  a  wife  to  her  sister,  to  vex  her,  to  uncover  her 
nakedness  besides  the  other  in  her  life  time."  (Lev. 
18 : 18.) 

The  phrase  "  a  wife  to  her  sister,"  we  find  in  two 
forms  in  the  Hebrew,  twenty-five  times  in  the  mascu- 
line and  ten  times  in  the  feminine ;  and  in  every  in- 
stance, unless  we  except  this  one,  it  is  used  idiomati- 
cally. As  this  is  an  important  text,  I  shall  mention 
several  examples,  first  in  the  masculine  and  then  in 
the  feminine. 

Gen.  37:19,  "And  they  said  one  to  another;" 
(literally,  a  man  to  be  7iis  brother). 

Ex.  25  : 20,  "  And  the  face  of  the  cherubim  shall 
look  one  to  another."  [a  man  to  be  his  brother.) 

Ex.  37:9,  "The  cherubim  stood  with  their  faces 
one  toward  another,"  (a  man  to  be  Ms  brother). 

Jer.  13 : 14,  "And  I  shall  dash  them  one  against 
another,"  {a  man  to  his  brother). 

In  the  feminine : 

Ex.  26 : 3,  "  The  five  curtains  shall  be  coupled  to- 
gether, one  to  another ;"  literally,  (a  woman  to  her 
sister.) 

Ex.  26 :  5,  "  That  the  loops  may  take  hold  one  of 
another,"  {a  woman  to  her  sister). 

Ex.  26  : 6,  "  And  coupled  the  curtains  together," 
(a  woman  to  her  sister). 

Ex.  26  : 17,  "  Two  tenons  shall  be  set  one  against 
another,"  (a  woman  to  Tier  sister). 

Ez.  1 : 9, 11,  "  Their  wings  were  joined  one  towards 
another,"  {a  woman  to  her  sister). 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


231 


Ez.  3 : 10,  "  The  wings  of  the  living  creature 
touched  one  another,"  (a  woman  to  her  sister). 

Except  the  text,  every  one  is  rendered  "  one  to 
another,"  or  "  together  "  or  its  equivalent.  Dr.  Bush, 
though  unfavorable  to  our  position,  says  :  "  So  in 
the  twenty-five  instances  of  the  masculine  form,  the 
rendition  of  our  translators  is  uniform,one  to  another, 
whether  spoken  of  persons  or  things.  In  no  case  do 
we  find  any  reference  to  relationship  by  blood.  The 
question  therefore  arises,  whether  the  literal  version 
in  this  place,  involving,  as  it  does  a  departure  from 
common  usage,  is  warranted.  It  is  admitted  that 
the  thirty-four  indisputable  cases  in  which  this  mode 
of  speech  occurs  in  an  idiomatic  sense,  go  very  far 
to  establish  this,  as  in  all  cases,  the  genuine  signifi- 
cation of  the  phrase." 

The  marginal  reading,  is  "  Neither  shalt  thou  take 
one  wife  unto  another." 

That  polygamy  is  forbidden  is  further  proved  by 
Deut.  17: 17,  Neither  shall  he  (the  king)  multiply 
unto  himself  wives."  We  conclude  therefore  that 
polygamy  is  not  only  incompatible  with  the  original 
institution  of  marriage,  but  that  the  great  law-giver 
of  Israel  legislated  against  it.  It  is  readily  seen 
how  this  law  would  serve  to  reinstate  woman. 

To  this  it  is  objected  that  if  Moses  forbade  poly- 
gamy, surely  such  men  as  David  knew  it  and  would 
not  have  lived  in  open  rebellion  to  it.  It  does  seem 
so,  but  there  is  another  event  in  the  life  of  David  far 
more  difficult  to  harmonize  with  the  divine  law  than 
polygamy,  and  that  is  the  deliberate  and  premedita- 


232 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ted  order  for  the  murder  of  an  innocent  and  faithful 
man,  that  he  might  marry  his  wife.  Will  any  one 
claim  that  it  was  because  he  did  not  know  that  it 
was  wrong  to  murder  ?  But  why  go  all  the  way  back 
to  David  nearly  three  thousand  years  ago,  as  though 
violations  have  been  scarce ;  whereas,  in  this  the 
nineteenth  century  of  grace  we  have  in  all  the  dif- 
ferent denominations  around  us  (ourselves  not  as 
clear  as  we  ought  to  be)  many  who  are  living  with 
unscripturally  divorced  companions,  and  therefore 
living  in  adultery.  Nor  is  this  all.  There  are  some 
preachers  who,  either  on  account  of  ignorance  or  the 
want  of  fidelity  to  Christ,  countenance  and  apologize 
for  this  putridity  in  the  Church  of  Christ.  Let  us  get 
the  beam  out  of  our  own  eye  before  we  look  after 
David's  eye.  It  is  not  a  safe  rule  in  any  age  to  de- 
termine the  meaning  of  Scripture  by  the  lives  of  its 
professors. 

4.  The  Jews  were  forbidden  to  intermarry  with 
idolators. 

"  When  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  bring  thee  into 
the  land  whither  thou  goest  to  possess  it,  and  hath 
cast  out  many  nations  before  thee  *  *  *  seven 
nations  greater  and  mightier  than  thou  *  *  * 
thou  shalt  make  no  covenant  with  them  *  *  * 
neither  shalt  thou  make  marriages  with  them;  thy 
daughter  thou  shalt  not  give  unto  his  son,  nor  his 
daughter  shalt  thou  take  unto  thy  son.  For  they  will 
turn  away  thy  son  from  following  me,  that  they  may 
serve  other  gods :  so  will  the  anger  of  the  Lord  be 
kindled  against  you,  and  destroy  you  suddenly" 
(DeuL  7:1-4). 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


233 


"And  they  took  their  daughters  to  he  their  wives, 

and  gave  their  daughters  to  their  sons,  and  served 
their  gods.  And  the  children  did  evil  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord  and  forgot  the  Lord  their  God,  and  served 
Baalim  and  the  groves.  Therefore  the  anger  of  the 
Lord  was  hot  against  Israel,  and  he  sold  them  unto 
the  king  of  Mesopotamia."    (Judges  3 : 6-8). 

"  Now  when  Ezra  had  prayed,  and  when  he  had 
confessed,  weeping  and  casting  himself  down  before 
the  house  of  God,  there  assembled  unto  him  out  of 
Israel  a  very  great  congregation  of  men  and  women 
and  children ;  for  the  people  wept  very  sore.  And 
Shechaniah,  the  son  of  Jehiel,  one  of  the  sons  of  Elam, 
answered  and  said  unto  Ezra,  We  have  trespassed 
against  our  God,  and  have  taken  strange  wives  of 
the  people  of  the  land :  yet  now  there  is  hope  in 
Israel  concerning  this  thing.  Now  therefore,  let  us 
make  a  covenant  with  our  God  to  put  away  all  the 
wives,  and  such  as  are  horn  of  them,  according  to  the 
counsel  of  my  Lord  and  of  those  that  tremble  at 
the  commandment  of  our  God ;  and  let  it  be  done 
according  to  the  law  *  *  *  Then  arose  Ezra, 
and  made  the  chief  priests,  the  Levites,  and  all  Israel, 
to  swear  that  they  should  do  according  to  this 
word"  (Ezra  10:1-5).  • 

Notice :  (1)  The  humiliation  of  Ezra. 

(2)  The  people's  sense  of  guilt,  "  A  great  congre- 
gation of  men,  and  women  and  children  wept  son1." 

(3)  They  covenanted  with  God  to  put  away  all 
these  wives  and  children  according  to  law. 


234 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


(4)  Ezra  required  an  oath  from  the  chief  priests, 
the  Levites  and  all  Israel.  The  record  further  shows : 

(5)  That  the  proclamation  was  made  for  all  to 
assemble  at  Jerusalem  within  three  days,  and  any 
one  disobeying,  his  property  was  seized  and  he  him- 
self cut  off  from  the  congregation. 

(6)  "When  assembled,  Ezra  demands  that  they 
confess  their  sin  and  separate  themselves  from  their 
strange  wives. 

(7)  It  required  three  months  to  execute  this  work. 

(8)  The  names  are  here  recorded  including  some 
of  the  Levite  singers  and  priests ;  thus  showing  that 
prominent  characters  were  guilty. 

As  this  was  done  according  to  the  law  we  conclude 
provision  was  made  for  the  support  of  those  wives 
and  children.  This  was  the  only  hope  of  Israel.  It 
was  severe,  but  "  The  way  of  the  transgressor  is 
hard." 

5.  Certain  marriages  were  forbidden  among  them- 
selves. In  Lev.  18  :  6-17,  fifteen  are  specified,  viz., 
father,  mother  sister,  half-sister,  granddaughter, 
father's  sister,  mother's  sister,  father's  brother,  step- 
mother, father's  brother's  wife,  son's  wife,  brother's 
wife,  wife's  daughter,  her  son's  daughter,  and  her 
daughter's  daughter.  Eight  of  those  were  related 
by  blood  and  seven  were  not.  When  we  remember 
that  Persia  and  Egypt  were  exceptionally  bad  for 
tolerating  incest,  some  of  their  kings  marrying  their 
own  sisters — we  can  readily  see  the  wisdom  of  Moses 
in  forbidding  intermarriages  with  blood  relations; 
but  how  about  those  other  seven  ?    Why  legislate 


MAERIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


235 


against  a  man's  marrying  his  deceased  bro theirs 
wife  ?  Perhaps  Dr.  Paley  assigns  the  true  reason. 
"  In  order,"  he  says.  "  to  preserve  chastity  in  families 
and  between  persons  of  different  sexes  brought  up 
and  living  together  in  a  state  of  unrestrained  inti- 
macy, it  is  necessary  by  every  method  possible,  to 
inculcate  an  abhorrence  of  incestuous  conjunctions, 
which  abhorrence  can  only  be  upheld  by  the  abso- 
lute reprobation  of  all  commerce  of  the  sexes 
between  near  relatives.  Upon  this  principle,  the 
marriage  as  well  as  other  cohabitation  of  brothers 
and  sisters  of  lineal  kindred  and  of  all  who  usually 
live  in  the  same  family  may  be  said  to  be  forbidden 
by  the  law  of  nature." 

But  the  practical  question  is,  is  this  law  still  in 
force  ?  If  not,  then  it  is  claimed  by  some  that  we 
have  no  law  at  all  against  incest. 

True,  there  is  no  legislative  act  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  so  'many  words  that  a  father  shall  not  marry 
his  daughter  nor  the  mother  her  son ;  yet  he  has 
surely  read  the  New  Testament  to  little  purpose 
who  has  not  learned  that  the  purity  and  sanctity 
therein  taught  are  far  superior  to  anything  taught 
by  Moses.  Its  law  is,  '"Whatsoever  things  are  true, 
whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are 
just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things 
are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report ;  if 
there  be  any  virtue,  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on 
these  things"  (Phil.  4:8). 

6.  The  freedom  of  betrothment. 

Perhaps  on  no  phase  of  our  subject  are  such  er- 


236 


THE  IOAVA  PULPIT. 


roneous  views  entertained  as  on  this  one.  It  has 
been  thought  that  anciently  Jews  could  buy  and  sell 
their  wives  and  that  a  Jewess  had  no  choice  at  all 
concerning  her  matrimonial  alliances.  This  is  a 
great  mistake.  A  Jew  might  purchase  his  wife,  if 
purchase  it  might  be  called,  for  it  was  rather  a  be- 
trothal. But  one  thing  he  could  not  do  and  that  was 
to  sell  her.  If  he  took  a  captive  for  a  wife  and  was 
afterwards  displeased  with  her,  he  could  not  even 
sell  her  but  had  to  let  her  go  free ;  and  for  a  Jewess 
there  were  far  more  liberal  provisions  than  for  a  cap- 
tive from  the  enemy  (Deut.  21 : 10-14 ;  Ex.  21 : 7-11). 

When  Abraham  was  starting  his  servant  after 
Isaac's  wife  he  said :  "  Peradventure  the  woman  will 
not  be  willing  to  follow  me  to  this  land ;"  Abraham 
replied,  "  If  the  woman  will  not  be  willing  to  follow 
thee,  then  thou  shalt  be  clear."  The  servant  was 
very  successful.  With  a  very  imposing  procession 
of  camels  and  servants  gorgeously  fitted  out  with 
treasures  of  silver  and  of  gold  and  of  raiment  and 
of  precious  articles,  he  started  in  search  of  the  young 
Jewess.  He  first  met  Rebecca  at  the  well,  she  gave 
him  a  drink  and  cheerfully  drew  water  for  his 
camels.  He  inquired  who  she  was  and  before  he 
had  seen  her  relatives  he  decked  her  in  jewels,  and 
after  he  had  stated  to  her  friends  who  he  was,  that 
Abraham  owned  much  silver,  gold,  cattle,  etc.,  that 
Isaac  was  the  only  heir,  and  that  he  came  for  a  wife 
for  him,  Miss  Rebecca  was  called  and  the  question 
propounded,  "  Wilt  thou  go  with  this  man  ?"  And 
she  said,  "I  will  go"  (Gen.  24). 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


237 


This  proves  beyond  question  that  as  early  as 
Abraham's  day  a  Jewess  had  some  say  concerning 
her  matrimonial  relations.  Athens  with  all  its 
boasted  learning  and  overawing  grandeur  contained 
not  a  lady  within  its  precincts  who  possessed  such 
privileges  of  person  as  did  this  poor  Jewess  drawing 
water  for  the  camels. 

True,  the  Jew  could  sell  his  daughter.  He  could 
also  sell  his  son  and  also  himself.  But  this  was 
nothing  like  the  modern  system  of  slavery.  It  was 
virtually  selling  their  service  or  hiring  them  out, 
and  the  poor  often  have  that  to  do  now.  This  was 
all  he  could  do  ;  anything  else  would  have  been  un- 
constitutional. It  was  an  organic  law  of  ancient 
Israel  that  all  debts  were  cancelled  and  all  servants 
went  free  at  the  commencement  of  every  seventh 
year. 

7.  The  sacredness  of  betrothment. 

If  a  Jewess  violated  her  fidelity  to  her  betrothed, 
she  was  put  to  death  the  same  as  an  adulteress 
(Deut.  22 : 23,  24). 

The  history  of  Sampson  also  corroborates  this 
position.  Although  a  long  time  had  elapsed  be- 
tween his  first  engagement  and  his  return,  yet  when 
he  found  that  the  father  of  his  bethrothed  had  given 
her  to  another  man  he  was  greatly  incensed  and 
sought  revenge  (Judges  15.) 

8.  The  most  rigid  law  was  enacted  to  protect  her 
person  and  virtue. 

In  case  it  was  an  unbetrothed  virgin  her  seducer 
was  required  to  pay  a  fine  and  to  marry  her,  with- 


238 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


out  permission  of  ever  divorcing  her,  provided  that 
her  father  did  not  object  to  the  marriage  (Ex. 
22  :  16-17.,  Dent.  22 : 29).  And  if  he  accomplished  his 
fiendish  work  by  force,  he  was  put  to  death  (Deut. 
22 : 25). 

9.  The  sons  of  Jacob  incensed  over  the  outrage  per- 
petrated on  the  person  of  their  sister  Dinah,  show 
how  sacredly  they  esteemed  her  person  and  her 
virtue  (G-en.  34). 

Even  to-day  many  of  the  States  pronounce  mar- 
riage a  nullity  in  the  absence  of  personification. 
But  as  early  as  the  da}*s  of  Jacob  the  virtue  of 
woman  was  too  sacred  to  be  sacrificed  on  any  such 
grounds.  If  Jacob  suffered  Leah  to  be  palmed  off 
for  Rachel,  the  morning  was  too  late  to  correct  his 
blunder,  Leah  he  must  keep  (Gen.  29 : 15-31). 

10.  The  law  of  jealousy  was  a  great  safeguard  and 
protection  to  woman  (Num.  5:11-31).  The  proceed- 
ings were  very  trying  and  solemn.  Should  a  wife  be 
suspected  by  her  husband  of  violating  the  marriage 
covenant,  not  having  the  evidence  to  convict  her, 
the  law  provided  that  he  should  bring  her  to  the 
priest  with  an  offering  of  barley  meal  without  oil  or 
frankincense ;  thus  the  very  offering  itself  was  ex- 
pressive of  humiliation  and  shame.  The  priest  was 
to  take  the  holy  water  in  an  earthen  vessel ;  which 
being  of  so  coarse  and  base  a  character,  also  set 
forth  her  degraded  condition.  She  was  then  brought 
before  the  Lord  and  her  head  was  uncovered.  Her 
head  being  covered  signified  her  subjection  to  her 
husband  and  his  protection;  her  denuded  head 


MAEKIAGE  AND  DIVOKOE. 


239 


being  thus  exposed  to  a  gazing  public  was  mortify- 
ing in  the  extreme. 

She  was  next  required  to  hold  in  her  own  hands 
the  jealousy  offering  while  the  priest  holding  in  his 
hand  the  bitter  water  which  causeth  the  curse, 
charged  her  by  an  oath  that  if  innocent,  then  she 
should  be  free  from  the  bitter  water ;  but  if  guilty 
he  pronounced  the  oath  of  cursing  upon  her  and  1^ie 
awful  penalty  that  should  follow,  to  which  she  had 
to  say  "Amen."  To  make  the  trial  if  possible  still 
more  solemn,  the  priest  wrote  the  curses  in  a  book 
(or  on  a  tablet)  and  washed  the  letters  off  into  the 
"bitter  water.  Up  to  this  time  she  stood  holding  the 
jealousy  offering  in  her  hand,  which  she  must  now 
see  the  priest  wave  before  the  Lord  and  offer  it  upon 
the  altar.  Next  she  had  to  drink  this  water  con- 
taining the  written  curses;  thus  if  guilty,  drinking 
down  her  own  condemnation,  after  which  the  fearful 
and  shocking  judgment  commenced.  She  soon  be- 
came to  the  eyes  of  all  Israel  what  she  was  morally 
to  the  Lord,  a  disgusting,  loathesome,  swollen  mass 
of  putrefaction.  But  if  innocent,  she  is  superlatively 
honored.  She  is  physically  blest  and  is  pronounced 
innocent  by  the  highest  authority  in  the  universe ! 

Pew  women  if  guilty,  would  submit  to  this  trial 
rather  than  confess  and  abide  the  penalty  of  the 
law.  True,  some  might  become  so  abandoned  as  to 
deny  that  there  was  a  God  in  Israel  and  thus  chal- 
lenge His  existence;  but  one  such  demonstration 
would  do  for  an  age.  The  question  suggests  itself, 
Why  not  have  such  a  law  to  try  the  husband? 


240 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


One  reason,  he  did  not  need  it.  He  was  not  nnder 
her  power  as  she  was  under  his.  He  could  protect 
himself  and  she  could  not.  Nothing  is  more  destruc- 
tive to  domestic  happiness,  nothing  more  blasting 
to  a  woman's  good  name,  and  nothing  will  render  a 
man  more  brutal  than  jealousy.  At  this  age  then, 
when  men  were  divorcing  their  wives  for  every  whim 
and  women  were  powerless  to  cope  with  men,  how 
merciful  for  God  thus  to  champion  her  cause  and 
furnish  means  by  which  the  innocent  would  infalli- 
bly be  protected.  How  gladly  and  cheerfully  would 
the  innocent  Jewess,  in  order  to  prove  her  innocence 
and  to  banish  the  demon  of  jealousy  from  the  home, 
submit  to  the  decision  of  an  all-wise  God. 

How  humiliated  on  the  other  hand  would  be  the 
husband  to  have  the  Omnipotent  One  proclaim  to 
all  Israel  that  he  had  unjustly  suspected  his  wife! 
How  careful  then  would  men  be  before  taking  such 
an  appeal.  Thus  we  have  not  a  single  case  on  record 
of  the  enforcement  of  this  law. 

Obs.  1.  No  one  could  fail  to  see  that  it  was  not 
the  water  that  produced  so  terrible  an  effect  any 
more  than  the  waters  healed  Isaaman.  There  was 
only  one  possible  solution  and  that  was  that  God 
was  there. 

Obs.  2.  It  would  show  the  enormous  sin  of  violat- 
ing the  marriage  covenant.  Not  only  was  it  pun- 
ished with  death  but  God  himself  condescended  to 
act  as  judge.  The  crime  of  theft,  of  perjury  and 
even  of  murder  were  judged  by  men.  Here  was  a 
trial  prescribed  by  law  that  could  not  be  conducted 


MABRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


241 


by  man  alone,  not  even  by  the  great  Law-giver  him- 
self. "  God  had  reserved  the  prerogative  to  act  as 
judge  himself  and  while  he  inflicted  on  the  guilty  a 
punishment  inconceivably  severe,  he  also  greatly 
rewarded  the  innocent. 

Obs.  3.  It  would  serve  to  check  this  awful  sin. 

While  it  warned  the  husband  to  see  that  he  had 
a  clear  case  before  appealing  to  a  court  that  could 
not  be  bribed,  and  where  the  guilty  would  be  con- 
demned and  the  innocent  rewarded,  it  would  also 
warn  the  wife  to  be  ever  on  the  guard  and  not  only  to 
keep  innocent  of  the  crime  but  to  retain  the  confi- 
dence of  her  husband,  lest  she  be  subj  ected  to  this 
exceedingly  severe  test.  And  lastly  the  awful  pen- 
alty that  would  befall  the  guilty  would  universally 
strike  terror  to  the  people.  The  innocent  would  fear 
the  crime  still  more  and  be  made  to  feel  "  that  adul- 
terers and  adulteresses  God  will  judge." 

9.  Restrictions  of  the  New  Testament. 

"  The  wife  is  bound  by  the  law  as  long  as  her  hus- 
band liveth  ;  but  if  her  husband  be  dead,  she  is  at 
liberty  to  be  married  to  whom  she  will ;  only  in  the 
Lord."    (1  Cor.  7 : 39.) 

Here  is  a  restriction  as  emphatic  as  words  can  ex- 
press it ;  "  she  is  at  liberty  to  marry  whom  she  will ; 
only  in  the  Lord." 

On  this  verse  Macknight  notes  :  "  Her  second  hus- 
band must  be  a  Christian.  *  *  *  The  Apostle  in 
his  second  epistle  expressly  forbade  the  Corinthian 
Christians  to  marry  infidels."  Westley  says: 
" '  Only  in  the  Lord.'    That  is  only  let  Christians 


242 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


marry  Christians  ;  a  standing  direction  and  one  of 
the  utmost  importance."  Doddridge  says  :  "  And 
may  marry  to  whom  she  will,  only  let  her  take  care 
that  she  marry  in  the  Lord." 

It  is  said  by  some  that  Paul  simply  meant  that 
Christians  should  not  marry  idolaters  ;  but  society 
outside  the  church  has  greatly  changed  and  hence 
the  prohibition  is  not  applicable  to  the  present 
times. 

The  only  way  we  Know  what  Paul  meant  is  by 
what  he  said,  and  we  are  prone  to  the  opinion  that 
he  was  more  capable  of  expressing  his  thoughts  ' 
than  we  are.  Had  he  meant  idolaters,  why  did  he 
not  say  idolaters  or  some  equivalent?  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  used  a  very  strong  expression ;  not 
simply  those  who  believe,  but  those  who  have 
obeyed,  those  "  in  the  Lord." 

Surely  there  should  be  as  great  a  difference 
between  the  church  and  the  world  now  as  there  was 
1800  years  ago.  If  not,  then  one  of  two  things  is 
inevitable ;  either  the  world  ought  to  advance  in 
purity  of  life  more  rapidly  than  the  church,  or  the 
church  has  not  done  its  duty.  If  the  former,  then 
two  queries  arise :  first  how  long,  at  the  present  rate, 
will  it  require  for  the  world  to  overtake  the  church  ? 
and  secondly,  how  long  until  the  world  will  be  so 
far  in  advance  of  the  church  that  it  will  lose  by 
marrying  those  "  in  the  Lord  ? "  But  if  the  church 
is  in  fault,  would  it  not  be  wise  to  arouse  it  to  array 
itself  in  the  beauteous  garments  of  righteousness 
and  shine  forth  as  the  light  of  the  world?  This 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


243 


eflbrt  thus  to  set  aside  the  plain  statement  of  the 
Apostle  reminds  us  of  a  similiar  position  of  a  certain 
divine  on  Acts  2  :  38.  "  True  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost Peter  taught  repentance  and  baptism  for  the  re- 
mission of  sins;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
they  were  Jews,  the  vilest  of  sinners,  the  betrayers 
and  murderers  of  Christ.  The  world  is  different 
now  and  the  conditions  of  salvation  are  different, 
being  'faith  alone.'  "  "  Happy  is  he  that  condemneth 
not  himself  in  the  thing  that  he  alloweth. 

The  same  Apostle  says :  "  Be  ye  not  unequally 
yoked  together  with  unbelievers;  for  what  fellow- 
ship hath  righteousness  with  unrighteousness?  and 
what  communion  hath  light  with  darkness?  and 
what  concord  hath  Christ  with  Belial  ?  or  what  part 
hath  he  that  believeth  with  an  infidel  ?  and  what 
agreement  hath  the  temple  of  God  with  idols  ?  for 
ye  are  the  temple  of  the  living  God."  (2  Cor.  6 : 14-16). 

While  this  may  not  directly  allude  to  marriage, 
yet  it  evidently  includes  it;  since  in  no  way  can 
parties  be  so  intimately  yoked  together  as  in  mar- 
riage. God  himself  says  they  are  no  more  twain 
but  one.  Will  any  one  say  this  scripture  means 
you  shall  not  associate  with  unbelievers,  shall  not 
mingle  and  commingle  with  them,  shall  not  transact 
business  with  them,  buy  a  farm  of  them,  nor  sell 
them  a  cow,  but  that  you  may  marry  them. 

On  this  verse  Macknight  remarks  :    ''  The  phrase 
'discordantly  yoked,'  being  here  used  to  express 
the  marriage  of  a  believer  with  an  infidel.  * 
*   *   *   The  Apostle's  precept,  besides  prohibiting 


244 


THE  IOWA  PITLPIT. 


marriages  with  infidels,  forbids  also  believers  to 
contract  friendships,  or  to  enter  into  any  kind  of 
scheme  with  infidels,  which  requires  much  familiar 
intercourse,  lest  the  believer  be  tempted  to  join  the 
infidel  in  his  wicked  principles  and  practices." 

On  verse  16  he  adds  :  " '  And  what  agreement  hath 
the  temple  of  God  with  idols.'  This  is  an  allusion 
to  the  history  of  Dagon,  the  god  of  the  Philistines, 
who  when  the  ark  *  *  *  was  placed  in  his  tem- 
ple was  found  two  mornings  successively,  cast  down 
before  it  on  the  ground  broken  (1  Sam.  5  : 2-4).  This 
shewed  that  the  temple  of  God,  and  the  temple  of 
idols  cannot  stand  together.  The  Apostle's  mean- 
ing in  the  above  verse  is  that  righteousness  and 
wickedness,  Christ  and  the  Devil,  the  portion  of 
believers  and  unbelievers,  the  temple  of  God  and  the 
temple  of  idols  are  not  more  inconsistent  than  Chris- 
tians and  heathens  are  in  their  characters,  inclin- 
ations, actions  and  expectations.  And  therefore, 
Christians  should  not  of  choice  connect  themselves 
intimately  by  marriage  or  otherwise  with  infidels  or 
wicked  persons  of  any  sort." 

Again,  the  Apostle  says :  "  Have  we  not  power  to 
lead  about  a  sister,  a  wife,  as  well  as  other  Apostles, 
and  as  the  brethren  of  the  Lord  ?"  (1  Cor.  9 : 5).  It 
is  clear  that  throughout  this  passage  Paul  only 
claims  the  same  privileges  for  himself  that  were 
accorded  to  the  other  apostles  and  brethren.  But 
in  marrying,  he  restricts  himself  to  having  a  sister 
for  a  wife.  Hence  we  conclude  that  this  was  the 
recognized  teaching  of  the  Apostles. 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIV0RCB. 


245 


jSvery  one  must  see  the  evils  arising  from  the 
amalgamation  of  the  church  and  the  world ;  and 
there  is  no  way  by  which  this  is  so  effectually 
and  permanently  done  as  by  intermarrying  All 
parents  need  the  hearty  co-operation  of  each  other 
in  religiously  training  and  nurturing  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  their  children.  While  the  one  may  be 
faithful  and  may  not  have  any  direct  opposition 
from  the  other,  still  there  is  one  thing  that  must  be 
encountered,  and  that  is  the  example  of  the  unbe- 
liever and  that  is  no  trivial  matter.  Thus,  taking 
the  most  charitable  view,  we  see  not  only  the  relig- 
ious culture  of  the  family,  which  is,  above  everything 
else,  entirely  thrown  upon  the  one  parent,  but  we 
see  also  the  stumbling-block  of  the  unbelief  and  dis- 
obedience of  the  father  or  mother,  thrown  into  the 
way  of  the  children.  Frequently  does  the  believer 
become  discouraged  and  disheartened  by  the  cold- 
ness and  indifference  of  the  other,  and  faith  and  zeal 
die  out,  and  thus  the  children  famish  for  the  bread 
of  life.  And  what  else  could  we  expect?  How  can 
one  do  the  work  of  two  and  overcome  the  adverse  in- 
fluence of  the  other?  How  can  family  worship  exist? 

It  has  been  urged  against  our  position  that,  if  true, 
we  must  withdraw  fellowship  from  all  those  thus 
married.  Paul  did  not  so  teach.  Though  the  error 
be  a  serious  one,  yet  it  does  not  annul  the  marriage. 
He  says,  "  If  any  brother  hath  a  wife,  that  believ- 
eth  not  and  she  be  pleased  to  dwell  with  him,  let  him 
not  put  her  away.  And  the  woman  which  hath  a 
husband  that  believeth  not,  and  if  he  be  pleased 


246 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


to  dwell  with  her,  let  her  not  leave  him."  (1  Cor. 
7 : 12, 13). 

IY.  The  Design  of  Marriage. 

"  On  account  of  nncleanliness  let  every  man  have 
a  wife  of  his  own,  and  let  every  woman  have  her  own 
husband.  Let  the  husband  fulfill  his  obligations  to 
his  wife  :  and  in  like  manner,  also,  the  wife  to  the 
husband.  The  wife  hath  not  command  of  her  own 
person,  but  the  husband :  arid  in  like  manner,  also, 
the  husband  hath  not  command  of  his  own  person 
but  the  wife.  Deprive  not  one  another  unless,  per- 
haps, by  consent,  for  a  time;  that  you  may  devote 
yourselves  to  prayer ;  and  do  not  come  again  to- 
gether, that  Satan  may  not  tempt  you  through  your 
incontinency."  {Living  Oracles,  1  Cor.  7:2,  5). 

As  the  prudence  if  not  the  necessity  of  marriage 
is  here  enjoined,  and  as  the  Scriptures  throughout 
restrict  all  sexual  privileges  to  the  wedded  compan- 
ion, the  law  would  be  very  imperfect,  did  it  not  pro- 
hibit the  refusal  of  such  privileges.  Nor  is  this  all ; 
refraining  by  mutual  consent  is  forbidden  to  be  con- 
tinued until  temptation  ensues. 

"  I  will  therefore  that  the  younger  women  marry, 
bear  children,  *  *  ."  "  Well  reported  of  for  good 
'  works ;  if  she  has  brought  up  children."  (1  Tim. 
5 : 14,  10.)  Teach  the  voung  women  to  love  their 
children.  (Tit.  2  :  4). 

Here  is  another  design  of  marriage,  the  procreation 
and  nurture  and  training  of  children.  God  enjoins 
it  on  womam,  declares  it  to  be  a  good  w<  >rk  and  com- 
mands her  to  love  her  children.    There  is  no  such 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


247 


model  of  innocence  on  earth  as  a  little  child;  and 
the  next  thing  to  it  is  the  mother  tenderly  cherishing 
it.  I  was  once  at  a  popular  watering-place  and  saw 
the  women  riding  out  in  the  evening  with  little  dogs 
in  their  laps ;  women  who  would  not  have  "been  seen 
thus  riding  with  their  own  children  in  their  arms, 
but  had  them  in  charge  of  a  nurse.  I  thought  what 
a  piiy  for  the  dogs !  Surely  this  is  the  class  propheti- 
cally described  as  "Without  natural  affection." 
(2  Tim.  3 : 3).  But  why  does  a  woman  nurse  a  poo- 
dle when  she  will  not  her  own  child  ?  Because  the 
womanly  affections  which  God  gave  her  to  he  lav- 
ished upon  her  own  child,  and  to  he  gratified  by  its 
childish  embraces  and  kisses,  she  has  so  prostituted 
that  she  now  manifests  them  by  hugging  a  poodle 
and  letting  it  lick  her  in  the  face.  I  thank  God  that 
my  mother  was  not  such  a  creature,  but  was  a 
woman;  and  that  I  enjoyed  the  love  and  care  of  a 
mother,  and  not  simply  that  of  a  hired  nurse.  In  no 
other  way  can  such  ample  provisions  be  made  for 
the  religious  and  moral  culture  of  children  as  in 
the  family.  The  ingenuity  of  man  has  exhausted 
itself  in  devising  schemes  but  they  are  only  so  many 
failures.  Heathenism  leaves  us  an  appalling  record. 
In  the  province  of  Bengal  alone  there  are  said  to  be 
destroyed  by  abortive  means  10,000  per  month. 
(Home's  Introduction,  Vol.  1,  p.  21).  From  time 
immemorial  such  atrocities  have  been  perpetrated. 
Balaam  taught  the  Israelites  to  commit  adultery 
and  thereby  affected  their  ruin.  Just  what  his  art 
was  is  not  stated,  but  it  was  sufficiently  adorned 


248 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


with  the  charms  of  innocency  as  to  seduce  ancient 
Israel.  Paul  speaks  of  some  who  "  creep  into  houses 
and  lead  captive  silly  women  laden  with  sins,  led 
away  with  divers  lusts."  (2  Tim.  3 :  6.)  Nor  are 
these  nefarious  practices  yet  extinct.  Spiritualism 
with  its  free-loveism  is  full  of  them,  and  frequently 
"books  under  such  misnomers  as  "  Science  of  Life," 
"Laws  of  Hygiene,"  etc.,  etc.,  creep  into  homes  and 
accomplish  their  fiendish  work.  Occasionally,  too, 
some  brainless  charlatan  vamps  up  some  old  French 
abortive  methods,  varnishes  them  over,  advertises 
what  wonders  he  can  do,  and  how  he  can  with  his 
manikins,  and  his  superior  wisdom,  and  many  years 
experience  teach  his  auditors  more  in  a  few  lectures 
than  it  is  possible  for  their  family  physician  with 
his  limited  experience  and  inadequate  means  of  in- 
formation to  know.  But  on  trial  he  proves  to  be  a 
Balaam  and  some  are  silly  enough  to  be  captured, 
To  destroy  life  deliberately  and  wantonly  is  mur- 
der. Nor  is  that  all,  but  he  who  so  purposeth  in 
his  heart  is  guilty  already.  Hence  when  such  effort 
is  made,  though  no  life  is  destroyed,  yet  the  guilt  is 
none  the  less ;  because  the  desire  was  in  the  heart. 
Nor  does  it  matter  if  the  effort  be  made  in  the 
earliest  incipiency  to  prevent  or  destroy  life,  the 
crime  is  the  same.  The  fruit  of  the  human  body  is 
too  sacred  to  be  thus  trifled  with,  and  such  prosti- 
tution of  marriage  would  degenerate  it  into  a  system 
of  lust.  For  such  self-polution  God  showed  His 
anger  by  smiting  Onan  dead.  As  well  might  we 
read  the  history  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  and  deny 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


249 


that  God  is  opposed  to  lying  as  to  read  the  record 
of  Onan,  (Gen.  38 : 9-10)  and  deny  that  he  is  opposed 
to  such  debauchery.  The  sin  of  self-pollution  is 
now  called  Onanism,  deriving  its  name  from  Onan 
on  account  of  the  sin  he  perpetrated. 

Throughout  the  New  Testament  this  class  of  sins 
constitutes  the  blackest  crimes,  receives  the  severest 
condemnation  and  is  comprehended  under  such 
titles  as  "  adultery,"  "  fornication,"  "  lust,"  "  lasciv- 
ousness,"  " uncleanness,"  "abusers  of  themselves 
with  mankind."  (Catamites  and  Sodomites,  Mac- 
knight's  Translation.)  Gal.  5:19;  Eph.  6:18  19;  1 
Cor.  6:9-10;  Rev.  21 :8. 

V.  I>ivorce. 

The  Jews  were  divided  on  this  subject.  The 
school  of  Hi  11  el  granted  divorces  for  very  trifling 
reasons  but  the  school  of  Shammai  only  for  moral 
delinquencies.  The  law  of  Moses  was  far  in  advance 
of  anything  in  his  time  and  was  decidedly  in  favor 
of  woman. 

From  our  Savior  we  have  the  following :  "  But  I 
say  unto  you,  that  whosoever  shall  put  away  his 
wife  saving  for  the  cause  of  fornication,  causeth  her 
to  commit  adiiltery ;  and  whosoever  shall  marry  her 
that  is  divorced  committeth  adultery." 

"  Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife  except  for 
fornication,  and  shall  marry  another,  committeth 
adultery  ;  and  whosoever  marryeth  her  that  is  put 
away  doth  commit  adultery." 

"  Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife  and  marry 
another,  committeth  adultery  against  her;  and  if  a 


250 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


woman  shall  put  away  her  husband  and  "be  married 
to  another  she  committeth  adultery.    (Matt.  5 : 32 ; 
19:9;  Mark  10  : 11-12 .  Luke  16 : 18.) 
From  this  we  learn: 

1.  That  Christ  permits  divorce  for  only  one  cause 

— adultery. 

2.  Whoever  divorces  his  wife  save  for  this  reason 
"  causeth  her  to  commit  adultery."  The  word 
"  causeth "  here  cannot  mean  to  effect,  else  every 
woman  thus  divorced  would  he  an  adulteress,  which 
we  know  is  not  true.  The  word  tw^o  also  signi- 
fies to  prepare  and  hence  may  read,  "prepares 
her  to  commit  adultery," — that  is,  prepare  the  way 
for  a  remarriage  which  would  he  adultery. 

3.  Whoever  marries  the  divorced  woman  is  guilty 
of  adultery.  If  she  is  not  an  adulteress,  this  pro- 
hibition may  cease  either  by  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band, or  by  his  remarrying,  as  he  would  then 
become  and  adulterer,  which  would  liberate  her. 
But  if  she  be  justly  divorced,  is  she  them  permitted 
to  remarry  ?  Evidently  not,  else  there  would  be  a 
premium  on  sin.  Who  cannot  see  that  if  the  one  is 
prohibited  from  remarrying  because  she  is  innocent, 
but  the  other  is  permitted  because  she  is  guilty, 
that  there  is  a  reward  for  sin  ?  Hence  there  is  this 
difference:  while  there  are  two  ways  by  which  the 
innocent  may  be  freed,  there  remains  but  one  for  the 
guilty,  and  that  is  the  death  of  her  divorced  hus- 
band. His  remarriage  will  not  do  it.  There  is  no 
marrying  for  six  months  nor  any  definite  period 
other  than  so  long  as  both  do  live.   Her  conduct 


MAKEIAGrB  AND  DIVORCE.  251 

released  Mm  but  not  herself.  A  life  pledge  to  re- 
frain from  all  intoxicants,  though  violated  the  next 
day,  changes  not  the  omnipotent  obligation  to  ob- 
serve it.  Is  it  not  true  of  this  most  solemn  of  all 
vows?  While  indulgence  in  sin  may  harden  the 
heart,  it  cannot  license  to  sin. 

This  may  be  thought  to  clash  with  1  Cor.  7 : 15, 
"If  the  unbelieving  depart,  let  him  depart.  A 
brother  or  a  sister  is  not  in  bondage  in  such  cases." 
But  the  tenth  verse  says,  "  If  she  depart  let  her  re- 
main unmarried,  or  be  reconciled  to  her  husband." 
The  question  here  is,  is  a  Christian  permitted  to  live 
with  an  unbeliever ?  Paul  says,  "Yes."  But  if  the 
unbeliever  refuses  to  remain  because  his  companion 
is  a  believer,  let  him  depart.  Allegiance  to  Christ 
first,  and  to  the  husband  afterwards.  But  when  rec- 
conciliation  with  him  can  only  be  effected  by  dis- 
loyalty to  Christ,  Paul  declares,  "  Let  her  remain 
unmaried."  Surely,  if  the  Apostle  does  not  grant 
a  remarriage  when  the  only  cause  of  desertion  is 
fidelity  to  Christ,  we  need  look  no  further,  but  con- 
clude at  once  that  he  agreed  with  Christ  that  adul- 
tery is  the  only  cause  for  divorce. 

4.  Though  it  is  not  universally,  yet  it  is  generally, 
and  we  think  correctly,  admitted  that  the  party  who 
sciipturally  divorces  his  companion  is  permitted  to 
marry. 

5.  Our  Savior  makes  no  distinction  between  the 
husband  and  the  wife,  the  relation  is  reciprocal. 

6.  Christ  highly  exalts  marriage  by  teaching  that 
it  illustrates  His  relation  to  the  church.    He  is  the 


252 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Bridegroom,  the  church  the  bride,  and  the  priceless 

delicacies  of  the  gospel  is  ottered  to  the  sinner  under 
the  title  of  a  marriage  feast. 

7.  The  Apostle  Paul  finally  places  the  wife  beside 
the  husband,  affirms  that  they  are  one,  and  that  she 
is  now  to  him  a  second  self.  He  says :  "  So  ought 
men  to  love  their  wives,  as  their  own  bodies.  He 
that  loveth  his  wife  loveth  himself.  For  no  man 
ever  yet  hated  his  own  flesh ;  but  nourisheth  and 
cherisheth  it.  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as 
Christ  loved  the  church."    (Eph.  5 : 26-29). 

8.  Thus  we  see  that  the  organic  law  of  marriage 
is  love,  illustrated  by  the  love  that  Christ  manifested 
in  dying  for  the  church. 

9.  While  woman  is  thus  restored,  still  her  desires 
are  yet  subject  to  her  husband,  and  he  is  regarded 
as  the  head  of  the  wife.  Hence,  the  Apostle  says, 
"  wives,  submit  yourselves  unto  your  husbands,  as 
unto  the  Lord.  For  the  husband  is  the  head  of  the 
wife,  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  church."  (Eph. 
5 : 22,  23).  We  believe  this  elevates  woman  to  the 
highest  possible  degree  of  earthly  happiness,  and 
that  it  is  just  as  natural  for  her  to  submit  to  a  hus- 
band whom  she  thus  loves,  and  to  depend  upon  him 
for  protection  as  it  is  for  the  husband  to  cherish  and 
to  protect  the  wife  that  he  so  ardently  loves.  Each 
one  is  a  hemisphere  and  it  requires  the  two  to  com- 
plete a  sphere. 

In  the  foregoing  we  have  endeavored  to  adhere 
strictly  to  the  Scriptures,  to  avoid  being  biassed 
either  by  prejudice  or  sympathy,  and  now  ask  the 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


283 


favor  of  every  reader  to  duly  weigh  our  arguments, 
and  reject  them  only  wherein  they  differ  from  the 
divine  standard. 

Want  of  space  only  permits  us  to  merely  touch 
upon  the  prevalent  evils  of  divorce.  Every  thought- 
ful person  must  admit  that  on  the  part  of  the  world 
there  is  an  alarming  recklessness,  and  on  the  part 
of  religionists  a  carelessness,  criminal  and  appall- 
ing in  the  extreme.  Think  of  the  numbers  who  are 
unscripturally  divorced,  are  remarried  and  are  now 
in  full  fellowship  and  higli  standing  in  the  various 
churches.  From  the  statistics  furnished  by  "  The 
Ohio  Divorce  Reform  League  "  we  gather  the  follow- 
ing: New  England  in  1878  granted  2,113  divorces, 
and  St.  Louis  200  annually.  Chicago,  Louisville 
and  twenty-four  counties  in  Michigan,  grant  one 
divorce  to  thirteen  marriages  ;  Rhode  Island,  Maine 
and  New  Hampshire,  in  1878,  one  to  ten ;  twenty-nine 
counties  in  California  one  to  seven ;  Ohio  gives  forty- 
three  counties  one  to  ten,  nine  counties  one  to  seven, 
three  counties  (omitting  decimals)  one  to  five,  Ash- 
tabula county  one  to  four,  and,  in  the  last  county, 
one  petition  for  divorce  to  about  every  two  mar- 
riages. 

And  what  is  most  alarming  this  evil  is  rapidly 
increasing.  From  the  same  statistics  we  leaxn  that 
Connecticut  in  1849  granted  one  divorce  to  every 
thirty-five  marriages,  by  1878,  it  was  one  to  ten  for 
a  period  of  fifteen  years,  and  Philadelphia  rose  from 
101  in  1862  to  477  in  1882.  Ohio  in  1865  granted 
873  divorces,  and  1,965  in  1883,  an  increase  of  over 


254 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


225  per  cent,  in  nineteen  years.  The  population  in- 
creased thirty-six  per  cent,  and  the  marriages  thirty 
per  cent,  during  the  same  period.  That  is  a  gain 
of  over  six  divorces  to  one  in  population,  and  over 
seven  divorces  to  every  marriage.  The  ratio  of 
divorces  to  marriages  has  doubled  within  the  last 
thirty  years  while  the  present  increase  is  even 
greater.  In  two  leading  counties  in  Minnesota,  di- 
vorces are  increasing  fifty  per  cent,  faster  than  mar- 
riages. And  we  are  further  infoimed,  that  not  one 
in  four  of  these  are  scripturally  divorced. 

Here  is  an  enemy  to  religion  greater  than  all  the 
Ingersolls  on  this  continent;  it  is  a  cancer  in  the 
heart  of  society  sending  forth  its  poisonous  virus 
through  every  liber  of  the  remotest  members  of  the 
body.  There  is  much  truth  in  the  statement  that 
Mormonism  and  Orthodoxy  agree  that  a  man  may 
have  as  many  wives  as  he  wants,  but  differs  in  how 
he  may  have  them ;  the  former  permitting  him  to 
have  them  all  at  once,  and  the  latter  requiring  him 
to  take  only  one  at  a  time.  Too  much  is  plainly 
stated  in  the  Scriptures  for  the  careful  reader  to  be 
uninformed.  We  are  in  eminent  danger.  Let  every 
brother  and  sister  in  Christ  rush  to  the  rescue.  We 
are  assailed  by  a  most  terrible  and  deadly  foe,  the 
destroyer  of  virtue,  chastity  and  home.  He  has 
already  decoyed  many. 

Let  every  minister  speak  out  lest  he  be  numbered 
with  those  prophets  who  are  denounced  as  dumb 
dogs  that  cannot  bark.  Since  Christ  said  of  certain 
ones,  on  account  of  their  position  to  His  teaching, 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 


255 


that  they  were  guilty  of  all  the  righteous  "blood  shed 
from  Abel  to  Zacharias,  and  since  Paul  said  of  others 
on  account  of  their  relation  to  his  ascended  Lord, 
that  they  crucified  Him  afresh,  shall  we  not  in  like 
manner  be  guilty  if  we  muffle  our  mouths  when  such 
a  hydra-headed  monster  stalks  through  our  streets? 
Remember  that  we  are  set  as  watchmen ;  if  we  give 
not  warning  the  blood  of  the  slain  shall  be  required 
at  our  hand.  (Ez.  33.)  It  is  awful  for  a  picket  to 
go  to  sleep  on  duty,  and  his  comrades  thereby  lose 
their  lives  ;  but  it  is  only  the  life  of  the  body.  We 
watch  for  their  souls.  What  if  we  sleep?  Souls 
shall  perish ! !  O  God  help  us.  Give  us  "  not  the 
spirit  of  fear,  but  of  power,  and  of  love,  and  of  a 
sound  mind,"-  that  we  may  not  shun  to  declare  the 
whole  counsel  of  God,  and  be  "  pure  from  the  blood 
of  all  men."  Amen. 


D.  R.  LUCAS. 


HE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  January  14, 1840,  in 
Boone  County,  Ills.  Second  son  in  a  family  of  ten 
children,  seven  of  whom  are  yet  living.  Was  reared 
and  educated  at  Belvidere  in  said  county,  graduating 
from  the  Kishwaukie  Academy  in  October,  1858,  and 
united  with  the  Baptist  church  at  Belvidere  in  Feb- 
ruary of  the  same  year. 

Removed  with  his  father  to  Laporte  County,  Ind.,  where  he 
united  with  his  Baptist  brethren  by  letter,  and  was  soon 
licensed  to  preach.  He  continued  preaching  and  teaching  in 
that  church  till  1860,  when  owing  to  a  change  of  views  on  re- 
ligious subjects,  he  united  with  the  Disciples. 

In  January  of  1861,  he  began  traveling  with  H.  Z.  Leonard. 
State  Evangelist  of  Indiana;  and  in  June  located  with  the 
church  at  Oxford,  remaining  one  year.  November  24,  1861, 
was  married  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Longley,  daughter  of  Eld.  John 
Longley,  one  of  the  pioneer  preachers  of  Indiana. 

In  June  1862  he  enlisted  in  the  army,  raising  part  of  a  com- 
pany, commissioned  as  Lieutenant  and  appointed  to  assist  in 
organizing  the  99th  Indiana  Volunteers,  taking  the  position  as 
Acting  Adjutant  of  the  regiment.  When  the  regiment  took 
the  field  he  was  appointed  chaplain — the  youngest  chaplain 
in  the  United  States  army.  His  regiment  was  sent  to  Mem- 
phis and  assigned  to  the  15th  Army  Corps,  and  took  part  in  the 
Vicksburg,  Chattanooga,  Mission  Ridge,  Knoxville  and  Atlanta 
campaigns. 

In  1864  he  resigned  as  chaplain  on  account  of  ill  health,  and 
entered  the  Provost  Marshal's  office  of  the  Lafayette  District, 
Jnd.,  where  he  remained  until  the  close  of  the  war.   In  1865  he 
27  257 


258 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


wrote  and  published  a  history  of  the  99th  Indiana  Volunteers, 
and  founded  the  Benton  Tribune,  editing  it  and  preaching  for  the 
church  at  Oxford  until  October,  1870,  when  he  cut  loose  from 
all  other  work,  and  removing  to  Jacksonville,  Ills.,  devoted  six 
years  to  the  work  of  evangelizing;  living  respectively  at  Jack- 
sonville, Concord  and  Clayton. 

In  May,  1876,  he  removed  to  Iowa  and  became  pastor  of  the 
church  at  Des  Moines,  and  contiuuing  five  years.  From  May, 
1SS1,  to  April,  1S83,  he  projected  and  labored  for  Drake  Uni- 
versity. 

In  April,  18S3,  he  removed  to  Omaha,  Neb.,  and  took  charge  of 
the  church  there,  continuing  a  year,  when  he  returned  to  Des 
Moines,  and  is  now  engaged  in  founding  The  Christian  Oracle, 
designed  to  be  an  organ  for  the  Church  of  Christ  in  the  North- 
west. 

As  a  forcible  speaker  on  the  platform,  Bro.  Lucas  has  few 
superiors,  and  on  this  account,  his  evangelistic  labors  have 
been  eminently  successful.  Among  the  most  successful  meet- 
ings he  has  held  we  name  the  following : 


Petersburg,  Dls  160  additions 

Perry,  "  .   142   " 

Griggsville,   "   141   " 

Camp  Point,  "  112   " 

Clayton,       "   102   «« 

Bloomington,"    82   " 

Mt.  Sterling,  '*    70   " 

Danville,       "   60    " 

Des  Moines,  Iowa   52   " 

Virginia,  Ills   54   " 

Fairfield,  Neb   50   " 


These  ten  meetings  average  about  100  each,  and  he  reports 
over  2000  additions  in  ten  years. 

He  has  held  public  discussions  with  D.  B.  Ray,  Baptist,  at 
Clayton,  Dls.;  with  R.  D.  Miller,  Cumberland  Presbyterian,  at 
Petersburg,  Ills. ;  with  Rev.  T.  McK.  Stuart,  Methodist  Episco- 
pal, at  Hnmeston,  Iowa;  with  W.  F.  Jamison,  Spiritualist,  at 
Osceola,  Iowa ;  and  with  B.  F.  Underwood,  Atheist,  at  Red  Oak, 
Iowa,  and  Norborne,  Mo. 


D.  E.  LUCAS. 


259 


Besides  he  has  written  "  Paul  Darst,"  a  religions  story,  and 
prepared  and  published  a  Sunday-school  and  church  song  book 
entitled  "Apostolic  Hymns  and  Songs." 

In  personal  appearance  Bro.  Lucas  stands  about  five  feet  nine 
inches,  weighs  185  pounds,  dark  hair,  being  but  little  gray  ; 
brown  eyes,  a  strong  heavy  voice  and  a  ready  speaker.  Being 
in  the  enjoyment  of  good  health,  is  good  natured  and  genial. 
Co-operates  freely  and  fully  with  his  fellow  preachers ;  will  not 
hinder  work  on  any  trifling  matter,  is  of  nature  enthusiastic 
in  whatever  he  undertakes,  and  is  a  strong  Prohibitionist,  ter- 
ribly so  in  the  estimation  of  saloon  keepers. 


♦ 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT  BETWEEN  ROMAN- 
ISM, PROTESTANTISM  AND  INFIDELITY. 


BY  D.  B.  LUCA8. 


"Beloved,  when  I  gave  all  diligence  to  write  onto  yon  of  the 
common  salvation,  it  was  needless  for  me  to  write  unto  you, 
and  exhort  you  that  ye  should  earnestly  contend  for  the  faith 
which  was  once  delivered  unto  the  saints." — Jude  1:3. 

HIS  world  is  full  of  conflicts.  The  problem 
of  the  ages  has  been  the  solution  of  the  ques- 
tion, why  it  is  so.  Perhaps  a  perfect  compre- 
hensive reconciliation  of  the  existence  of  an 
infinitely  wise  and  good  Creator  with  the  ex- 
istence of  a  world  of  evil  is  impossible  in  the  present. 
In  fact,  without  the  ultimate  outcome  of  an  eternal 
existence  for  man,  they  cannot  be  reconciled.  If  we 
conceive  that  God  has  a  purpose  to  accomplish,  and, 
that  i8,the  bringing  of  perfection  out  of  imperfection, 
we  may  see  why  this  creation  was  made  subject  to 
frailty,  not  willingly,  but  by  reason  of  Him  who 
hath  subjected  the  same  in  hope.  I  confess  that 
when  I  think  of  the  Creator,  out  of  His  own  perfec- 
tion, by  His  fiat  speaking  a  spotless  angel  into  being, 
I  am  ready  to  honor  Him,  but  when  I  think  of  His 

creating  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  out  of  the  un- 

261 


2G2 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


conscious  babe — the  most  helpless  of  all  things,  by 
a  process  of  growth,  wherein  all  that  is  possible  to 
evil  is  overcome — a  perfect  man,  sinless  and  pure,  to 
praise  Him  forever,  I  am  ready  to  fall  at  His  feet 
and  glorify,  love  and  worship  Him,  and  say,  "How 
wonderful  are  Thy  works,  O  Lord,  in  wisdom  hast 
Thou  made  them  all." 

NATURAL  FORCES. 

Nature  has  her  conflicts  and  compensations.  They 
are  not  moral  but  physical.  The  electrical  winds  of 
the  cyclones  are  devastating  in  their  force,  but  they 
burn  up  and  carry  away  enough  miasma  and  poison 
to  destroy  ten  lives,  where  one  perishes  in  the  cy- 
clone. Human  wisdom  can  provi  de  for  safety  from 
cyclones,  but  the  miasma  would  be  without  control. 
Thus  the  very  conflict  that  we  dread  becomes  a 
means  of  life.  So  with  the  waves  of  ocean.  Once 
in  a  while  a  Central  America  goes  down  into  the 
rolling  sea,  but  a  calm  on  the  ocean  would  send  a 
thousand  people  to  death  where  the  storm  sends  one. 
If  the  ocean  were  to  become  and  remain  a  calm,  By- 
ron's "Dream  of  Darkness"  and  the  desolation 
consequent  thereupon,  would  become  a  reality. 
Agitation  is  the  law  of  life  on  land  and  sea,  peace 
comes  from  purity,  purity  from  conflict. 

MENTAL  FORGES. 

As  in  matter,  so  in  mind.  Agitation,  discussion, 
investigation,  debate  are  essential  to  progress.  I 
hear  once  in  a  while  some  man  who  calls  himself  a 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT. 


263  - 


Protestant,  say  the  time  for  debating  has  gone 
by.   If  it  has,  prepare  a  tombstone  for  the  grave 
of  progress,  and  stop  the  work  of  honoring  Luther 
and  the    great    debaters  of  the  past,  blot  out 
the  record  of  Paul's  disputing  in  the  school  of  Tyr- 
annus  and  usher  in  the  days  of  indifference  and 
ignorance.    But  you  say  in  debates  men  are  so  in 
earnest  that  they  get  mad.    There  are  some  things 
worse  than  that.    I  always  respect  the  man  who 
believes  something  so  sincerely  and  zealously  that 
he  becomes  a  little  excited,  or  even  angry  about  it. 
He  will  do  something,  even  if  it  is  not  right,  and 
agitation  moves  the  car  of  progress  forward.    I  do 
not  believe  a  debate  was  ever  held  where  there  was 
anything  like  equal  talents  and  knowledge  on  both 
sides,  that  has  not  done  more  good  than  harm.  I 
have  seen  and  heard  of  some  excited  people  at  de- 
bates and  some  angry  debaters,  but  that  is  better 
than  absolute  peace.    There  is  absolute  peace  in  a 
graveyard,  but  the  dead  are  there,  so  there  are 
quiet  places  and  churches,  not  a  riffle  on  the  waters, 
but  it  is  the  peace  of  death.  When  a  lad  my  mother 
told  me  to  build  a  "  hot  fire  and  heat  the  teakettle." 
I  told  her  it  might  boil  over.    She  replied  with  a 
mild  reproof,  "  Never  mind  if  it  does,  my  boy,  it  is 
better  for  it  to  boil  over,  than  not  to  boil  at  all,  for 
tepid  water  is  of  no  use,  it  will  not  make  tea,  and  it 
is  not  fit  to  drink."  The  lesson  I  have  ever  cherished 
and  especially  since  I  have  become  familiar  with  the 
awful  declaration  of  Jesus  to  one  of  the  Apocalyptic 
churches,  a  declaration  of  the  most  terrible  import 


264 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


of  any  to  "be  found  in  the  Bible :  "  I  would  thou  wert 
either  cold  or  hot,  because  thou  art  neither,  I  will 
spew  thee  out  of  my  mouth." 

FOECE  OF  IDEAS. 

An  idea,  a  great  idea,  an  idea  with  a  moral  side, 
is  a  source  of  power,  as  unmeasurable  as  that  of  a 
cyclone  or  a  storm.  Ideas  that  have  a  bearing  upon 
the  physical,  mental  and  moral  progress  or  retro- 
gression of  the  race,  often  come  into  conflict,  and 
philosophy  as  well  as  human  experience,  teaches  us 
that  such  conflicts  are  "  irrepressible."  The  historian 
who  would  write  the  history  of  the  late  war  and 
begin  at  Fort  Sumpter,  might  detail  the  facts  of  the 
conflict,  but  no  answer  could  be  given  to  what  it  was 
all  about.  There  were  two  great  conflicting  ideas  of 
human  right  in  government,  and  these  appealed  first 
to  the  power  of  debate.  Win.  Loyd  Garrison  said 
the  constitution  that  upheld  slaver  ,  was  a  "league 
with  hell,"  while  Robert  Toombs  said  that  he  would 
call  the  roll  of  his  slaves  on  Bunker  Hill.  Lincoln, 
Davis,  Phillips,  Yancey,  Douglas,  Seward,  Sumner, 
Rhett,  and  their  compeers  fought  the  battle  first  on 
the  forum,  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  in  the  press, 
until  the  passions  of  men  became  so  aroused  that  a 
million  brave  men  died  to  settle  the  issue.  So  it  is 
in  religion  to-day.  The  three  great  ideas  contending 
for  the  supremacy,  and  there  is  an  "irrepressible  con- 
flict "  between  them.  One  or  the  other  must  prevail 
and  become  the  ground  work  of  our  civil  government 
and  laws,  and  the  basis  of  our  civilization.  These 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT. 


265 


THREE  GREAT  PRINCIPLES, 

or  ideas  may  be  formulated  as  follows,  with  the  or- 
ganized forces  that  are  behind  them : 

1.  God  has  appointed  one  man  to  do  the  religious 
thinking  for  the  race,  and  he  is  infallible  in  his  de- 
cisions on  all  questions  touching  the  faith  or  morals 
of  the  people.  This  is  the  fundamental  idea  of 
Roman  Catholicism.  Romanists  may  differ  in  all 
else,  but  he  who  questions  the  infallibility  of  the 
church,  cannot  be  a  Roman  Catholic. 

2.  Every  man  is  a  free  thinker,  a  creature  of  cir- 
cumstances, in  no  way  possessing  any  power  over 
his  thoughts  or  belief,  and  in  no  sense  responsible  for 
his  thoughts  or  belief,  it  being  wholly  a  question  of 
environment.  This  is  the  fundamental  idea  of  every 
form  of  infidelity.  You  can  go  all  the  way  from  the 
avowed  Atheism  of  an  Ingersoll,  to  the  spiritistic  phil- 
osophy of  Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  and  the  central 
principle  of  all  the  infidel  philosophies  is  that  man 
is  wholly  a  creature  of  circumstances,  having  no 
more  volition  over  his  own  thoughts,  his  belief,  his 
love  or  his  hates  than  he  has  over  the  size  of  his  head 
or  the  length  of  his  nose.  They  may  differ  in  many 
things,  in  fact  do  differ  greatly,  but  they  all  agree 
that  "belief  in  no, case  depends  upon  the  will" 

3.  There  is  in  the  world  truth  and  error,  that  man 
must  examine  and  decide  on  the  basis  of  responsi- 
bility ;  if  he  believes  the  truth  and  obeys  it  he  will 
be  blest,  if  he  follows  error  lie  must  suffer  the  con- 
sequences. This  is  the  central  thought  of  Protestant- 


266 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ism.  They  may  differ  in  many  things  bnt  all  agree 
that  "  each  must  give  an  account  of  himself  to  God." 

THE  CONFLICT. 

In  order  that  we  may  gain  a  conception  of  the  re- 
sult of  the  conflict,  we  must  examine  the  strength 
and  weakness  of  the  forces  engaged.  A  wise  com- 
mander, before  he  goes  into  "battle,  must  know  the 
strength  and  weakness  of  his  own  force  and  position 
as  well  as  that  of  the  enemy.  So  with  us  in  this 
conflict. 

ROMANISM. 

I.  Its  strength  lies  in,  1st.  Its  unity.  2d.  Its  cer- 
tainty. The  hierarchy  of  Rome  in  its  unity  is  the 
best  organized  force  in  the  world.  "When  the  Pope 
issues  his  edict,  there  is  not  a  Romanist  on  the  earth 
but  bows  down  to  the  mandate  and  says  it  is  the 
voice  of  God.  It  is  a  strength  of  unity  that  is  use- 
less to  attack.  Combine  with  this  the  element  of 
certainty  and  we  have  a  wonderful  power.  The 
Catholic  does  not  believe  that  it  is  the  priest  that 
forgives  sins,  but  that  God  forgives  sins  through  the 
priest  as  an  instrumentality,  and  the  certainty  of 
the  forgiveness  is  to  him  a  rock  of  rest  and  peace. 
He  rests  on  that  faith  that  he  is  only  responsible  for 
his  own  acts,  the  church  assuming  the  responsibil- 
ity for  the  teaching.  In  conversation  with  a  Roman- 
ist once  he  said,  "  I  do  what  the  priest  directs."  I 
asked,  "Suppose  he  tells  you  wrong,  what  then?" 
He  responded,  "  Then  he  goes  to  hell  and  I  go  free  ;  I 
am  not  responsible  for  his  errors."  His  faith  may  be 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT, 


267 


erroneous,  but  to  him  it  has  the  element  of  certainty, 
that  is  the  only  basis  of  peace  to  a  human  soul. 

Mgr.  Capel,  a  distinguished  Romanist,  is  now  in 
this  country  and  he  says  the  Pope's  mandate  would 
he  obeyed  as  "  sharp  as  the  click  of  a  trigger."  It 
is  true  and  is  a  source  of  unmeasured  strength. 

II.  Its  weakness  lies  in  its  opposition  to  free  in- 
vestigation, and  all  that  is  implied  in  that  term. 
Perhaps  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote  the  words 
of  Mgr.  Capel,  in  an  interview  with  the  reporter  of 
the  Chicago  Tribune.  It  will  show  the  exact  phases 
of  strength  and  weakness. 

"  By  the  way,"  the  Tribune  said,  '  The  right  of 
revolution  is  denied  by  the  Catholic  Church,  accord- 
ing to  Mgr.  Capel.'  Now  this  is  an  error.  The 
Catholic  Church  alleges  the  right  of  revolution.  The 
authority  of  a  ruler  is  from  God,  but  when  he  vio- 
lates his  trust  and  oppresses  the  people  they  have 
their  ultimate  redress  in  revolution.  Your  own 
Revolutionary  War  was  clearly  right.  All  power 
is  from  God — the  power  of  the  king  and  the  power 
of  the  people — and  which  ever  is  right  is  to  be 
maintained." 

"And  how  are  we  to  know  which  is  right?"  I 
asked. 

"  Go  to  the  church  and  inquire." 

THE  SCHOOL  QUESTION. 

'  But  the  one  question  that  is  troubling  me  the 
most  seriously,"  he  resumed,  "  is  the  school  question. 
I  have  not  yet  spoken  uj  on  this  definitely,  but  I 


268 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


shall  go  to  Washington  when  Congress  is  in  ses- 
sion and  make  a  formal  declaration  so  as  to  reach 
not  only  the  people,  but  the  Government.  I  am 
now  prepared  to  make  a  declaration  which  shall 
carry  some  authority  with  it ;  for  I  am  prosecuting 
a  careful  study  of  your  whole  school  system.  I 
have  visited  the  public  schools  of  many  cities ;  have 
met  with  a  courteous  reception  everywhere,  and 
have  examined  the  workings  of  all  your  machinery. 

"  The  result  is,  that  there  is  going  to  be  a  fight. 
There  are  a  good  many  Catholics  in  this  country — 
8,000,000,  somebody  says.  Your  public  school  sys- 
tem is  inadequate  for  them,  and  they  are  going  to 
leave  it.  Suppose  that  the  church  sends  out  an  au- 
thortative  command  to  the  Catholics  to  start  schools 
in  every  parish,  and  support  them  and  send  all 
Catholic  children  to  them.  It  can  be  done  by  the 
utterance  of  a  word,  sharp  as  the  click  of  a  trigger. 
That  command  will  be  obeyed.  New  schools  will 
spring  up  everywhere.  What  will  be  the  result  of 
that  ?  A  fight !  Do  you  suppose  some  millions  of 
people  are  going  to  pay  taxes  twice  over — once  for 
their  own  schools,  and  again  for  Protestant  schools, 
from  which  they  get  no  benefit  ?  If  it  isn't  a  down- 
right fight,  it  will  be  at  least  the  warlike  condition 
• — a  million  or  two  of  voting,  tax-paying  citizens 
hostile  to  the  Government." 

INFIDELITY. 

I.  The  strength  of  infidelity  lies  in  human  pride 
and  an  unwillingness  to  recognize  the  force  of  an 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT. 


269 


obligation.  It  is  usual  to  say  it  is  the  depravity  of 
human  nature,  hut  this  is  true  only  with  those 
"  whose  de6ds  are  evil,"  it  is  rather  an  ahuse  of 
human  nature.  From  pride  of  self  or  love  of  power, 
the  child  is  disposed  to  disregard  the  restraints  of 
the  parent,  and  it  is  to  the  same  element  of  the  man 
to  throw  off  the  obligations  of  the  "  ought  to  do  " 
that  God  lays  upon  him.  It  is  more  potent  with 
those  who  have  a  smattering  of  knowledge,  rather 
than  those  who  have  drank  deep  from  the  fountain  of 
wisdom  and  experience.  A  young  man  often  thinks 
himself  wiser  than  his  father,  when  he  has  none  of 
his  experience,  and  is  then  just  in  a  condition  to 
hear  the  voice  of  the  infidel,  who  has  thrown  off  his 
respect  for  God  and  religion,  and  has  relegated  them 
to  the  realm  of  superstition  as  a  fit  employment  for 
fools,  not  for  wise  men.  The  young  man  thinks 
himself  wise,  this  flatters  his  pride,  and  he  becomes 
an  Agnostic  philosopher.  I  am  assured  this  is  the 
strength  of  the  infidel  plea. 

H.  Its  weakness  consists  in  the  fact  that  man  is 
a  religious  being,  and  it  makes  no  provision  for 
man's  religious  nature. 

Faith  is  an  element  of  human  nature.  It  is  as 
natural  to  believe  as  it  is  to  breathe.  A  child  be- 
lieves whatever  it  is  told.  Munchausen  and  Robin- 
son Crusoe  are  alike  true  to  the  child  that  has  never 
been  deceived.  Doubt  is  born  of  deception.  If  a 
man  had  never  been  deceived  he  would  never  have 
doubted.  Here  lies  the  mistake  in  our  education. 
We  teach  our  children  lies  and  then  wonder  why 


270 


THE  IOWA  P  TIL  PIT. 


they  are  skeptical.  A  little  girl  was  talking  to  her 
mother  saying  it  was  about  time  for  "  Santa  Clans  " 
to  come  again,  when  her  mother  remarked:  ''My 
daughter,  you  are  getting  old  enough  to  know  bet- 
ter now ;  there  is  no  such  person  as  Santa  Claus,  he 
is  only  an  imaginary  being."  She  looked  at  her 
mother  sharply  for  a  moment,  her  eyes  expressive 
of  wonder,  and  said :  "  Mother,  have  you  been  lying 
to  me  about  Jesus  too,  is  he  only  an  imaginary 
being?"  The  mother  did  not  know  just  how  to  meet 
the  thrust,  but  felt  it  long  years  after  when  her 
daughter  became  a  confirmed  skeptic,  always  say- 
ing :  "  I  can't  feel  as  if  Jesus  were  anything  but  an 
imaginary  being."  Such  a  wrong  as  a  lie  to  the 
trusting  heart  of  a  child  is  often  a  disastrous  experi- 
ment. When  I  think  of  the  numberless  ghost  and 
hobgoblin  stories,  the  visionary  religious  experi- 
ences to  which  I  listened  when  a  boy,  believing  them 
all  then,  but  afterwards  learning  they  were  false,  I 
wonder  at  times  why  I  am  not  a  skeptic  nryself. 
Through  the  crushed  fancies,  bruised  credulities, 
wrecked  visions  and  wasted  anticipations,  I  have 
come  however  to  rest  on  the  Rock  of  Ages. 

Let  me  take  another  case.  Two  little  girls  were 
disputing  about  something  one  of  them  had  said 
when  the  following  colloquy  occurred. 

Jane. — "  It  is  not  so." 

Mary. — "  I  say  it  is  so,  for  my  mamma  said  so." 
Jane. — "  I  don't  care  if  she  did,  it  ain't  so." 
Mary. — ''"Well  it  is,  for  if  my  mamma  said  so,  I 
know  it  is  so,  even  if  it  ain't  so." 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT. 


271 


There  is  the  faith,  the  thing  might  not  be  so,  yet 
mamma  would  not  lie.  That  mother  will  have  no 
skeptics  in  her  family.  If  she  were  to  rear  a  dozen 
children  they  would  all  believe  in  "  Mother,"  and 
mother's  God. 

As  faith  and  hope,  love  and  veneration  are  a  part 
of  man's  nature,  infidelity  makes  no  provision  for 
them  and  this  is  its  weakness.  Man  is  a  creature 
of  sentiment.  Faith  is  often  mightier  than  reason, 
hope  reaches  farther  than  memory  and  love  is 
greater  than  the  most  deliberate  judgment.  All 
combined  will  find  a  heaven  where  scientific  accur- 
acy only  finds  a  tomb ;  will  find  a  haven  of  rest, 
while  reason  only  sees  the  storm ;  will  find  a  God 
while  reason  is  wondering  over  a  law. 

Death-beds  and  new-made  graves  are  places  where 
infidelity  turns  pale  and  forgets  its  philosophy. 
The  wailing  cry  of  bereaved  hearts  palsy  its  tongue 
and  leave  it  dumb  and  speechless.  By  a  coffin  of  a 
loved  one  it  has  no  word,  save  it  be  the  borrowed  or 
stolen  language  of  religion.  Paul  says,  "now 
abideth  faith,  hope  and  love,"  and  they  alone  abide 
in  such  an  hour.  Ingersoll  may  smirk  and  sneer  at 
religion  but  its  language  he  must  use  beside  a  cof- 
fin. He  may  mingle  it  with  his  barren  and  desolate 
philosophy  but  it  must  be  there  for  it  is  the  lan 
guage  of  the  heart  of  man.  By  the  coffin  of  his 
brother  in  that  memorable  sermon  he  has  them  a]  I . 
Hear  him : 

"In  the  night  of  death  hope  sees  a  star  and  listen- 
ing love  can  hear  the  rustle  of  a  wing.    He  who 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


sleeps  here  when  dying,  mistaking  the  approach  of 
death  for  the  return  of  health,  whispered  with  the 
latest  breath,  '  I  am  better  now.'  Let  us  believe  in 
spite  of  doubts  and  dogmas,  in  spite  of  fears  and 
tears  that  these  dear  words  are  tme  of  all  the  count- 
less dead." 

There  you  have  them,  hope,  love  and  faith,  in  the 
hazy  mist  of  agnostic  philosophy,  it  is  true,  but  they 
are  still  there.  "  Hope  sees  a  star,"  yes,  the  Christian 
sees  the  "  bright  and  morning  star,"  the  "  star  of 
Jacob,"  the  "  star  of  Bethlehem."  "  Listening  love 
hears  the  rustle  of  a  wing,"  yes,  the  Christian  hears 
the  angels  winging  their  way  to  Judea  to  roll  away 
the  stone  from  the  tomb  of  Jesus,  or  if  he  is  dying 
sings: 

Bright  angels  are  from  glory  come, 
They're  round  my  bed,  they're  in  my  room; 
They  wait  to  waft  my  spirit  home, 
All  is  well,  all  is  well-" 

"  Let  us  believe,"  yes,  let  us  believe  in  Him  who 
said,  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life,"  that 

"  There  is  a  land  our  eyes  have  seen, 
In  visions  of  enraptured  thought, 
So  bright  that  all  that  comes  between, 
Is  with  its  radiant  glory  fraught. 
A  land  upon  whose  blissful  shore 
There  rests  no  shadow,  falls  no  stain ; 
Where  those  that  meet  shall  part  no  more, 
And  those  long  parted  meet  again." 

The  weakness  of  infidelity  is  in  the  fact  that  man 
is  a  religious  being,  and  it  makes  no  provision  for 
man's  religious  nature. 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT. 


873 


PROTESTANTISM. 

The  strength  of  Protestantism  lies  in  the  Bible 
and  the  character  of  Jesus  therein  revealed. 

The  Bible  is  The  Book  of  books,  the  book  of  the 
ages,  the  book  of  mankind.  Blot  it  ont  of  existence 
and  yon  have  robbed  the  world  of  its  most  ancient 
history,  its  most  instructive  biography,  its  most 
suggestive  parables,  its  sweetest,  most  sublime  songs, 
its  wisest  proverbs  and  its  most  profound  philoso- 
phy. "Take  all  the  rest  of  the  writings  of  the  earth 
and  no  substitute  could  be  made  that  would  not  pro- 
voke the  contempt  of  mankind  for  its  failure.  More 
than  a  hundred  years  ago,  Voltaire,  who  in  the 
presence  of  all  other  infidels  is  a  giant  among  pig- 
mies, wrote  his  works  which  he  boldly  claimed 
would  destroy  the  Bible  in  twenty -five  years.  A 
century  has  gone  by  and  the  works  of  Voltaire  are 
only  found  in  libraries  where  the  curiosity  hunter, 
or  some  skeptic,  who  wishes  to  be  considered  smart 
goes  to  find  rare  books,  while  the  same  building  in 
which  Voltaire  wrote,  is  a  "  Bible  Depository"  from 
which  millions  of  copies  of  the  Bible  in  many  lan- 
guages are  sent  forth  every  year.  A  revision  of  the 
New  Testament  made  but  a  short  time  ago  by  some 
humble  men  who  took  up  the  work,  circulated  more 
than  two  million  copies  in  a  single  day  in  the  United 
States,  many  of  the  daily  papers  publishing  it  en- 
tire in  single  issue  of  that  day.  Theoretically  Prot- 
estants accept  the  Bible  as  the  creed  of  the  church, 
and  in  elevating  the  Word  of  God  is  their  strength. 

18 


274 


TELE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


So  with  the  Divine  character,  the  Messiah  of  God. 
The  sinless  man,  the  man  of  Calvary,  draws  by  His 
power  all  men  unto  Him.  No  man  can  say  aught 
against  Him  and  His  holy  life,  save  it  be  from  the 
wickedness  of  his  own  heart  and  life.  Jesus  is  the 
Light  of  the  world  and  His  shining  rays  are  a 
power  that  conquers  the  selfishness  of  the  ages. 

The  weakness  of  Protestantism  lies ;  1.  In  its 
Divisions.   2.  In  its  uncertainties. 

That  division  is  weakness,  and  union  is  strength, 
is  so  palpable  a  truth,  it  seems  useless  to  give  ex- 
amples or  arguments.  No  more  forcible  illustration 
of  the  power  of  sectarian  partyism  to  blind  the 
minds  of  men  can  be  found  than  to  see  men  who 
realize  that  union  is  strength,  arguing  that  division 
is  right  in  religion,  thus  stultifying  the  accepted 
axiom  of  all  ages,  and  times,  and  peoples.  The 
division  of  Christians  makes  division  in  families, 
in  communities,  in  society,  in  a  hundred  ways  makes 
it  often  difficult  to  carry  on  the  work  of  Christ 
effectively.  The  observation  of  every  man  of  experi- 
ence shows  this  to  be  true,  and  when  W3  consider 
the  unity  that  the  Bible  commands  it  as  a  source  of 
weakness  for  which  there  is  no  proper  estimate. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  greatest  weakness  of  Protes- 
tantism is  the  uncertainty  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins. 
I  have  often  felt  the  force  of  this  in  the  conflicts  of 
theories  upon  conversion.  Protestants  are  largely 
in  the  mist  of  the  mystic  theories  of  the  past,  in  fact 
they  believe  more  in  damnation  than  they  do  in  sal- 
vation— where  the  Savior  says,  "he  that  believeth  not 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT. 


275 


shall  be  damned,"  they  accept  it,  but  when  he  says, 
"  he  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved," 
they  do  not  accept  that,  and  the  same  if  we  tell  sin- 
ners to  "  repent  and  be  baptized  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins,"  in  fact 
they  doubt  the  positive  promises  of  Jesos  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  to  forgiveness,  while  they  accept 
those  that  teach  condemnation  of  sin.  To  illustrate : 
In  one  of  the  great  meetings  of  Edwin  Fayson  Ham- 
mond, the  revivalist,  where  a  large  crowd  of  people 
were  gathered,  a  hundred  young  men  were  sitting 
together,  when  one  of  them  arose  and  said :  "  Mr. 
Hammond  you  have  been  preaching '  come  to  Jesus,' 
praying '  come  to  Jesus,'  and  singing '  come  to  Jesus,' 
for  a  week  here  and  you  have  never  told  us  how  to 
come  to  Jesus,  will  you  do  so  ? " 

To  which  Mr.  Hammond  responded :  "  That  is 
right  and  proper,  my  friend,  to  ask  your  question, 
and  I  will  answer  it.  First,  I  will  tell  what  is 
not  coming  to  Jesus,"  and  then  went  on  to  enumer- 
ate a  number  of  things  such  as  "  it  is  not  trusting  in 
your  own  righteousness,"  "it  is  not  by  making  your- 
selves better,"  etc.,  and  closed  with  these  words,  "  it 
is  not  my  province  to  tell  you  how  to  come  to  Jesus, 
that  is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  He  is  the  guide 
and  teacher  in  such  matters,  and  in  His  own  time 
and  way  will  make  the  way  known  to  you,  for  you 
cannot  understand  his  wars,  for  'the  wind  bloweth 
where  it  listeth,  and  thou  heareth  the  sound  thereof, 
but  can'st  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it 
goeth,  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit,' " 


276  THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 

let  us  sing  "  come  to  Jesus."  The  young  man  re- 
sponded :  "Well  that  is  as  clear  as  mud,"  and  none 
of  the  young  men  became  Christians.  How  could 
they?  If  Mr.  Hammond  could  not  tell  them  just  as 
plainly  how  to  "  come  to  Jesus  "  as  the  Apostles  did 
it  was  because  he  was  in  the  mist  and  had  no  busi- 
ness to  teach  others.  The  difficulty  is  this,  Mr. 
Hammond  did  not  understand  or  else  does  not 
believe  the  Bible,  for  if  there  is  any  truth  plainly 
taught  it  is  how  to  come  to  Jesus.  I  confess  I  have 
no  words  to  adequately  express  my  abhorrence  of 
that  system  of  mysticism  that  makes  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins  or  the  means  of  obtaining  it  a  mystery, 
with  the  "Acts  of  the  Apostles  "  containing  so  many 
examples  and  so  much  teaching  on  the  subject.  In 
every  case  there  we  find  that  the  sinners  "  heard 
the  word  of  the  gospel,"  "believed  in  Jesus,  re- 
pented of  their  sins  and  were  baptized  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  and  accepted  the  promised  for- 
giveness resting  on  the  Divine  promise.  The  Protes- 
tant, who  teaches  to-day  that  anything  more  is 
necessary  to  make  a  sinner  a  Christian  than  these 
things  or  any  Jess,  does  not  understand  the  Scrip- 
tures or  else  does  not  believe  them.  This  may  sound 
strongly,  but  the  honor  of  the  Divine  Word  must  be 
vindicated.  The  men  who  want  something  beside 
the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  its  teaching  in 
the  Divine  Word  are  making  more  infidels  than  a 
thousand  Ingersolls,  for  while  pretending  great 
friendship  for  the  Bible  they  do  not  believe  it. 
Who  ever  heard  Mr.  Hammond,  Mr.  Moody,  or  any 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT. 


277 


of  the  great  representatives  of  Protestantism,  tell 
sinners  who  cried  out  "  men  and  brethren  what  must 
we  do  to  he  saved  ? "  in  the  language  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  "  repent  and  be  baptized  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall 
receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  or  who  ever  heard 
of  their  telling  a  man,  to  "  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,"  and  after  speaking 
the  word  of  the  Lord  to  him  take  him  "  the  same 
hour  of  the  night  and  baptize  him,"  or  who  ever 
heard  of  their  coming  to  a  prajdng  penitent  like  Saul 
of  Tarsus,  and  saying :  "And  now  why  tarriest  thou, 
arise  and  be  baptized,  and  wash  away  thy  sins  call- 
ing on  the  name  of  the  Lord."  No  one  ever  heard 
them  ?  Why  ?  Because  it  is  too  certain  and  sure, 
and  Protestantism  is  uncertain.  They  have  more 
faith  in  their  own  experience  than  they  have  in 
God's  Word.  Jesus  gave  His  Apostles  a  great  com- 
mission to  evangelize  the  nations,  the  Holy  Spirit  in- 
spired them  for  the  work  and  until  Protestants 
preach  the  same  things  and  give  the  same  commands, 
the  great  element  of  uncertainty  must  continue  to 
be  a  weakness  of  the  system. 

THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  CONFLICT. 

From  what  has  gone  before  it  is  easy  to  see  which 
shall  triumph,  when  we  see  how  their  weakness  may 
be  remedied.  Can  Romanism  remedy  its  weakness  ? 
Its  weakness  lies  in  its  fundamental  principle  and  it 
cannot  remedy  it.  The  only  remedy  is  to  admit  the 
right  of  private  judgment  and  personal  investiga- 


278 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


tion,  and  if  this  is  adopted  the  foundation  is 
overthrown  and  the  system  totters  to  its  fall. 
Komanism  cannot  remedy  its  weakness. 

How  is  it  with  infidelity  ?  As  its  weakness  lies  in 
the  fact  that  it  makes  no  provision  for  man's  re- 
ligious nature,  the  only  remedy  is  to  make  such  pro- 
vision, and  that  makes  a  religion  a  necessity,  and 
that  destroys  its  negative  foundation.  And  if  we 
must  have  a  religion  that  of  Jesus  is  acknowledged 
by  all  to  he  the  best  possible,  with  its  pure  morality, 
its  sinless  object  of  faith,  its  hope  of  immortality,  its 
love  to  God  and  man,  it  is  a  religion  adapted  to  the 
race.  Even  the  rationalistic  philosopher  Renan 
says :  "  Whatever  may  be  the  surprises  of  the 
future,  Jesus  will  never  be  surpassed."  He  calls 
Him  the  "  noble  founder,"  "  the  corner  stone  of  hu- 
manity," etc.  So  with  Ingersoll,  who  says :  "  For 
the  man  Christ  I  have  infinite  respect.  To  that  great 
and  serene  man,  I  gladly  pay — I  gladly  pay  the 
tribute  of  my  admiration  and  my  tears."  And  so  I 
might  go  down  the  list.  I  have  not  now  to  do  with 
the  inconsistency  of  these  men,  but  only  to  show 
that  from  the  infidel  point  of  view  there  is  a  grandeur 
and  beauty  in  the  Christ  that  commands  the  respect 
of  all  men,  and  if  we  must  have  a  religion  His  is  the 
best. 

I  met  once  a  philosopher,  who,  recognizing  the 
fact  that  man  needs  a  religion  to  satisfy  his  nature, 
was  full  of  a  plan  to  make  a  new  religion,  suggest- 
ing that  the  world  needs  a  "new  religion."  I  stopped 
him  in  the  midst  of  his  address  to  ask  the  question : 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT. 


279 


"  Have  you  done  all  there  is  in  the  old  religion?  Do 
you  "love  the  Lord  your  God  with  all  your  heart, 
and  soul,  and  mind,  and  strength,  and  your  neighbor 
as  yourself  ?"  Do  you  "  do  to  all  men  as  you  would 
have  them  do  to  you?"  Do  you  "worship  the  Lord 
your  God  only  and  serve  Him?"  Have  you  "added  to 
your  faith  courage,  knowledge,  temperance,  patience, 
godliness,  brotherly  kindness  and  love  ? "  Have  you 
done  all  these  things  ? "  He  answered,  "  no  I  have 
not."  "There,"  I  said,  "You  have  said  enough, 
when  you  have  accepted  and  done  all  that  the  reli- 
gion of  Jesus  requires,  you  can  talk  about  a  new 
religion,  but  until  you  have,  I  think  you  had  better 
give  up  the  project."  And  so  I  feel  to-day,  for  of  all 
the  egotistic  nonsense  of  this  age,  it  is  to  hear  men 
talk  of  a  "  new  "  religion,  who  have  never  yet  prac- 
ticed all  there  is  in  the  old.  "Whenever  I  find  a  man 
whose  life  and  example  are  purer  and  better  than 
that  of  Jesus,  I  will  listen  to  his  theory  of  a  new  re- 
ligion ;  but  until  I  do,  I  have  no  time  to  waste  on 
sich  insufferable  egotism,  preposterous  presump- 
tion and  practical  absurdity.  Infidelity  cannot 
remedy  its  weakness  without  destroying  itself. 

Can  Protestanism  remedy  its  weakness  ?  It  can 
by  practically  carrying  out  its  own  theory  that  "  the 
Bible,  and  the  Bible  alone  is  the  religion  of  Protest- 
ants." If  this  were  done,  the  unity  of  the  Apostolic 
church,  with  its  certainty  of  forgiveness  of  sins, 
would  be  restored,  and  its  weakness  remedied.  This 
can  only  be  done  by  the  abolition  of  human  creeds, 
confessions  of  faith,  with  all  their  speculative  dqg- 


280 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


mas,  and  effecting  a  nnion  on  the  great  Divine  Con- 
fession of  the  Apostolic  Age,  with  faith  in  Jesns  and 
submission  to  his  word  as  the  only  test  of  commun- 
ion and  fellowship.  It  is  not  in  harmony  with  my 
purpose  to  discuss  now  the  way  in  which  this  can  he 
done,  only  to  say  that  I  know  it  is  right,  scriptural 
and  practical,  and  that  it  can  he  done,  and  that  all 
the  tendencies  of  our  time  are  moving  in  that  direc- 
tion. Thousands  of  Protestants  are  ready  to  say  to 
the  sinner  just  what  the  Apostles  said,  and  to 
preach  and  practice  just  what  the  Apostles  preached 
and  practiced.  The  union  of  two  Presbyterian 
bodies  in  Pittsburg  in  1870,  the  Union  Services, 
Union  Sunday-schools,  Young  Men's  Christian  -As- 
sociations, and  a  wide-spread  recognition  that  De- 
nominationalism  is  in  the  way  of  many  practical 
reforms  are  all  indications  that  the  people  of  God 
are  moving  from  the  Babylon  of  confusion  back  to 
the  old  paths  of  Jerusalem,  to  the  unity  of  the  faith. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  conflict  of  these  forces  is  one  that  will  not  end 
until  one  or  the  other  is  successful.  Either  the  prin- 
ciple of  Romanism,  whose  essential  principle  has 
the  element  of  tyranny  in  it,  or  infidelity,  whose 
essential  principle  has  the  element  of  anarchy  in  it, 
or  Protestantism,  whose  essential  principle  is  that 
of  liberty  with  the  safeguards  of  law  and  love,  must 
assume  and  hold  the  supremacy  in  America. 
Between  the  Scylla  of  tyranny  and  the  Charybdis 
of  anarchy,  flows  the  smooth  stream  of  liberty,  law, 


THE  GREAT  CONFLICT. 


281 


and  love.  Let  us  pray  that  our  grand  ship  of  state 
may  avoid  the  rocks  and  sail  down  the  old  stream. 
In  order  to  do  this  .those  who  love  Grod,  and  His 
Book,  as  the  Divine  Chart,  must  unite  together  in 
one  body  under  the  banner  of  Jesus,  the  Christ,  not 
to  persecute,  but  to  preach,  not  to  reproach,  but  to 
pray,  not  to  speculate,  but  to  practice,  not  to  fear, 
but  to  live  and  love  one  another.  Infidelity  is  really 
helpless  while  it  is  boastful.  It  has  nothing  to  sub- 
stitute for  religion,  nothing  that  will  dignify  human 
existence,  nothing  that  will  lighten  the  burden  of 
the  toiler,  nothing  that  will  curb  the  baser  passions, 
nothing  that  will  glorify  the  home,  nothing  that  will 
comfort  the  dying,  nothing  that  will  make  a  founda- 
tion on  which  faith,  and  hope,  and  love,  may  build, 
or  place  a  ladder  to  reach  the  skies.  I  have  no  fear 
of  infidelity,  while  I  would  not  despise  or  under- 
estimate its  strength,  its  weakness  is  so  great  that  it 
can  only  walk  by  the  aid  of  the  staff  it  has  stolen 
from  Divine  revelation.  With  Romanism  we  have 
most  to  fear.  Holding  so  much  of  truth,  organized 
for  aggressive  work,  strong  in  its  unity  and  certainty, 
its  cardinal  principle  is  its  only  weakness.  It  is  not 
impossible  for  Romanism  to  remedy  her  weakness, 
but  if  she  does,  she  ceases  to  be  Romanism.  If  she 
would  throw  off  the  accumulated  traditions  of  the 
centuries,  and  return  the  keys  to  Peter  to  whom  the 
Savior  gave  them,  she  might  do  a  grand  work  for 
the  world.  But  standing  as  she  does  to-day  encased 
in  tradition,  intolerant  of  differences  of  opinion, 
throwing  anathemas  at  the  head  of  men,  opinionated 


282 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


in  the  infallibility  of  her  mediaeval  theology,  and  de- 
termined in  her  opposition  to  free  investigation  her 
ultimate  overthrow  or  reform  from  these  errors  is  as 
certain  to  come  as  the  years  and'centuries  move  for- 
ward with  the  car  of  progress. 

Under  the  reign  of  the  Christ,  out  of  all  the  con- 
flict, will  come  the  day,  when  God  the  Almighty 
shall  "be  the  Father  and  friend  of  man  instead  of  a 
tyrannical  despot,  when  liberty  and  love  shall  rule, 
not  tyranny  or  anarchy,  and  out  of  all  the  conflict 
will  come  at  last  the  vindication  of  the  ways  of  God 
to  man.  Out  of  the  darkness  shall  come  light,  out 
of  weakness  shall  come  strength,  out  of  sorrow  shall 
come  forth  joy,  out  of  imperfection  shall  come  per- 
fection, and  the  Divine  declaration,  "All  things 
shall  work  for  good  to  them  that  love  God,  to 
them  who  are  the  called  according  to  His  purpose." 

All  things  shall  work  for  good, 

To  those  who  love  the  Lord, 
A.nd  in  a  contrite  prayerful  mood 

Obey  His  holy  word. 

All  things  shall  work  for  good, 

To  those  who  heed  the  call, 
With  God's  great  purpose  understood 

Crown  Jesus  Lord  of  all. 

All  things  shall  work  for  good, 

Yes,  all  things  here  below, 
E'en  sorrow  rightly  understood 

May  good  not  evil  show. 

All  things  shall  work  for  good, 

A  precious  promise  given, 
To  feast  our  souls  with  richest  food 

That  God  extends  from  heaven. 


ALLEN  HICKEY. 


ALLEN  HTCKET. 


LLEN  HICKEY,  fourth  son  of  William  and  Sarah 
Hickey,  was  born'in  Licking  County,  Ohio,  December 
15, 1826.  His  parents  came  from  Virginia  to  Ohio  in 
1816.  His  father  was  of  Irish  and  his  mother  of  Ger- 
man descent.  In  his  boyhood  he  worked  on  the  farm, 
attending  the  common  school  during  the  winter 
months.  When  he  was  nineteen  years  old  he  began 
teaching  in  a  district  school.  Has  taught  twelve  winters. 
Was  married  to  Miss  Julia  A.  Bell  in  April,  1851,  and  settled  on 
a  farm  in  his  native  county.  Was  baptized  at  the  Bell  church 
in  October,  1854,  by  David  G.  Mitchell.  Removed  the  same 
fall  to  Iowa  ;  stopped  in  Delaware  County  until  the  spring  of 
1856,  when  he  went  to  Mineral  Ridge  in  Boone  County,  where 
he  lived  five  years.  While  in  Boone  County  he  farmed,  taught 
school,  and  worked  the  greater  part  of  one  year  as  fireman  and 
engineer  in  a  steam  saw  mill  of  which  he  was  part  owner. 

In  1858,  about  adozen  disciples  living  at  Mineral  Ridge  began 
meetings  for  prayer  and  exhortation.  Bro.  Hickey  soon  be- 
came their  chief  speaker.  In  December,  1859,  he  made  his  first 
appointment  to  preach  at  the  house  of  Joseph  Harvey  near 
Boonsboro.  In  the  spring  of  1860,  Bro.  Abram  Williams  came 
from  Wisconsin  to  Iowa,  and  made  his  home  for  a  year  with 
Bro.  Hickey.  Bro.  Williams  preached  for  little  groups  of 
brethren  in  Boone,  Hamilton,  and  Story  counties.  Bro.  Hickey 
went  with  him  sometimes  and  helped  in  the  preaching,  and  oc- 
casionally made  appointments  of  bis  own  at  school  houses  and 

28a 


284 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


at  the  homes  of  brethren.  In  May,  1861,  he  removed  to  Story 
City  and  engaged  in  regular  preaching  there,  and  at  New  Phila- 
delphia (now  Ontario),  Franklin  school  house,  and  Prime 
school  house,  all  in  Story  County.  Was  ordained  in  June, 
same  year,  at  Story  City,  Abram  Williams  and  Dr.  Jessup  offici- 
ating. In  May,  1862,  he  went  to  Galesburg  in  Jasper  County. 
Worked  at  Galesburg,  Clear  Creek,  Newton,  and  other  points 
in  that  county,  until  May,  1865,  when  he  went  to  New  Phila- 
delphia, preaching  there,  and  at  Pleasant  Grove,  and  other 
places  in  Story  County.  During  1866-7  he  preached  once  or 
twice  a  month  at  Elkhart  (Cory  Grove)  in  Polk  County.  There 
were  eighty-three  added  at  a  meeting  there  in  March,  1867.  In 
the  fall  of  1867,  he  removed  to  Oskaloosa. 

His  connection  with  The  Evangelist  began  January,  1868.  He 
entered  into  partnership  with  Prof.  G.  T.  Carpenter  in  editing 
and  publishing  the  paper  which  was  then  a  thirty-two  page 
monthly  pamphlet.  At  the  middle  of  the  year  he  became  sole 
proprietor  and  editor  in  consequence  of  the  withdrawal  of  Prof. 
Carpenter.    The  paper  had  then  five  hundred  subscribers. 

In  the  spring  of  1868,  he  was  employed  to  preach  for  the 
church  in  Oskaloosa,  but  in  September  he  resigned  in  favor  of 
Prof.  B.  W.  Johnson  in  order  to  secure  him  as  president  of  the 
college.  Bro.  Hickey  spent  his  time  preaching  at  Eddyville, 
holding  protracted  meetings,  and  keeping  up  The  Evangelist, 
until  April,  1869,  when  he  went  to  Adel,  and  worked  there,  and 
at  De  Soto.  At  the  latter  place  he  held  the  first  protracted 
meeting  of  the  Christian  Church  in  June,  same  year,  at  which 
there  were  more  than  twenty  baptized.  Finding  Adel  an  in- 
convenient place  for  publishing  the  paper  he  returned  to  Oska- 
loosa in  October,  and  the  first  of  January,  1870,  changed  The 
Evangelist  to  a  bi-weekly,  newspaper  form.  He  was  editor, 
proof-reader,  book-keeper,  and  with  the  assistance  of  his  girls 
did  the  folding  and  mailing.  He  preached  every  Lord's  day  at 
Eddyville. 

At  the  close  of  the  year,  1870,  The  Evangelist  had  a  subscrip- 
tion list  of  more  than  seventeen  hundred.  He  then  went  into 
partnership  with  some  other  parties,  and  the  company  bought 
printing  material  and  published  the  paper  weekly  from  the 
beginning  of  1871.   At  the  end  of  the  year,  although  the  circa- 


ALLEN  HIOKEY. 


285 


lation  had  reached  twenty-seven  hundred,  Bro.  Hickey  quit  the 
publishing  business,  with  a  thousand  dollars  less  in  his  little 
treasury  than  at  the  beginning  of  the  year. 

During  1871,  he  preached  at  Bluff  Creek  and  Fairfield  on  Lord's 
days.  From  January,  1872,  he  spent  his  whole  time  at  Fairfield 
until  October,  1874,  when  he  went  to  Marshall  County,  and 
preached  at  Albion,  Liscomb,  Bethel,  Clemens  Grove,  Illinois 
Grove.  Bangor,  Union  and  Marietta.  He  then  worked  at  Albia 
from  November,  1875,  until  February,  1878,  at  Adel  from  February 
to  November,  1878,  at  Knoxville  from  November,  1878,  to  May, 
1881,  at  Madison  half  time  1381-3,  at  Montezuma  half  time  from 
October,  1881,  to  December,  1883,  and  is  now  living  at  North 
English,  preaching  there  and  at  Millersburg  and  AVhite  Pigeon. 
He  has  generally  during  his  ministry  preached  three  times  on 
Lord's  days,  usually  riding  out  in  the  afternoon  to  school  houses 
or  country  meeting  houses. 

He  has  met  with  fair  success  in  nearly  all  the  fields  where  he 
has  worked.  A  considerable  number  of  churches  have  grown 
up  at  places  where  he  began  the  work.  Has  held  many  suc- 
cessful, and  some  unsuccessful,  protracted  meetings.  Since 
May,  1861,  he  has  baptized  more  than  a  thousand  persons. 
He  has  debated  with  Methodists,  Spiritualists,  Seventh  Day 
Adventists,  Universalists  and  Christadelphians.  In  this  field 
he  has  won  the  confidence  of  his  friends  and  the  respect  of  his 
opponents.  9 

At  the  Des  Moines  meeting  in  1869,  he  was  chosen  president 
of  the  first  State  Board  under  our  present  State  organization, 
and  was  re-elected  the  following  year  at  the  Marion  meeting. 
He  has  within  the  last  two  years  been  a  co-worker  with  Bro.  - 
McConnell  in  organizing  the  Northeast  Iowa  Christian  Con- 
vention. He  has  always  been  active  in  the  Sunday-school 
work.  Has  never  been  out  of  employment  a  month  at  a  time; 
has  never  sought  exalted  positions  or  easy  places. 

In  person  he  is  five  feet  ten  inches  high,  weighs  a  hundred 
and  sixty  pounds,  well  proportioned,  of  light  complexion,  and 
is  in  the  full  strength  and  vigor  of  manhood.  He  is  a  diligent 
student,  and  in  practical  scholarship  is  the  peer  of  those  who 
had  far  better  advantages.  His  preaching  is  plain,  practical, 
and  forcible.    His  sermons  are  easily  understood,  abounding 


286 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


in  Scripture  illustrations,  and  thoroughly  his  own.  He  speake 
easily,  fluently,  earnestly — often  in  terrible  earnestness.  He 
rebukes  sin  fearlessly,  but  is  kind  and  sympathetic;  hates  all 
sham  and  pretense;  never  uses  high-sounding  words,  and  but 
seldom  indulges  in  wit.  He  is  warm  in  his  friendships,  and 
confiding  to  a  fault.  He  is  very  devotional,  and  is  a  child-like 
believer  in  special  providence  and  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 


THE  MTRROR. 


BY   ALLEN  HICKEY 


For  if  any  one  is  a  hearer  of  the  word,  and  not  a  doer,  he  is 
like  unto  a  man  beholding  his  natural  face  in  a  mirror— James 
1:23,  Revised  Version. 

!  N  every  house,  whether  it  is  the  home  ot  the 
rich  or  the  poor,  the  plain  or  the  fashionable, 
there  is  a  mirror.  Large  or  small,  old  or 
new,  cheap  or  costly,  whole  or  broken,  there 
is  a  mirror.  It  is  used  by  everybody,  by  the 
okland  the  young,  by  the  handsome  and  the  homely, 
by  the  verdant  and  the  venerable,  by  the  little  miss, 
the  maid,  and  the  matron.  It  is  used  every  day,  and 
on  Sunday  more  than  any  other  day  in  the  week.  It 
is  never  dimmed  by  dust  or  cobwebs.  There  are  im- 
perfect mirrors  that  magnify  or  lessen  or  distort  the 
face ;  and  there  are  perfect  mirrors  that  reflect  a  true 
likeness  in  size,  form,,  and  color. 

There  is  nothing  wrong  in  having  a  looking-glass, 
a  perfect  one,  and  there  is  nothing  wrong  in  using  it. 
We  look  into  the  glass  to  behold  our  "  natural  face," 
to  see  whether  it  is  clean  or  dirty,  and  to  see  what 
we  need  to  "put  oif "  or  "  put  on."    It  gives  one  a 

287 


288  THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 

truer  picture  of  himself  than  a  photograph  or  a  tin- 
type. It  tells  one  the  truth  about  himself  more  ac- 
curately than  he  could  obtain  it  from  his  most 
intimate  friend. 

We  are  not  satisfied  with  seeing  our  own  "  natural 
face  "  and  that  of  our  fellow  men ;  we  would  see 
man's  heart,  his  thoughts,  his  motives,  his  real  life 
and  character.  We  want  a  knowledge  of  human 
nature.  The  knowledge  we  gain  by  the  most  care- 
ful observation  is  partial  and  unsatisfying.  We 
look  into  uninspired  history  and  biography,  and  we 
discover  that  they  are  imperfect  mirrors.  If  the 
picture  we  see  there  has  been  drawn  by  a  friend,  it 
is  too  large  and  too  fair.  The  subject  is  eulogized 
for  his  goodness,  his  greatness  is  extolled  ;  his  faults 
are  hidden  if  possible,  and  if  they  cannot  be  con- 
cealed there  is  an  apology  for  them.  The  altogether 
perfect  man  which  some  of  its,  in  our  boyhood,  saw 
in  Weems's  Life  of  Washington,  was  not  the  real 
George  Washington,  for  even  he  had  some  faults. 
If  the  picture  is  by  the  hand  of  an  enemy,  it  is  too 
small  and  too  dark.  In  Lamar  tine's  Life  of  Crom- 
well we  do  not  see  the  real  Oliver  Cromwell ;  we  see 
a  fanatic  and  a  hypocrite,  with  a  hundred  fold  more 
blemishes  in  his  character  than  there  were  warts  on 
his  face.  If  we  look  into  works  of  fiction  we  see 
unreal  men  and  women. 

There  is  One  Book  that  gives  us  the  knowledge  of 
God,  and  the  knowledge  of  man ;  of  God  in  His 
perfect  attributes  of  power,  truth,  justice,  holiness, 
mercy  and  love ;  and  of  man  as  he  is,  even  as  God 


THE  MIRROR. 


289 


sees  him  and  presents  him  to  us.  The  Bible  is  the 
true  mirror  of  humanity.  Here  man  is  pictured  no 
greater,  no  less,  no  better,  no  worse,  than  he  is. 
Here  he  is  mirrored  in  his  sins — in  his  blackness  and 
pollution,  without  concealment  and  without  excuse. 
Here  God  unveils  man's  very  heart,  and  lets  us  look 
into  its  hidden  treasures  of  sin — its  "  evil  thoughts, 
adulteries,  fornications,  murders,  thefts,  covetous- 
ness,  wickedness,  deceit,  lasciviousness,  envy,  blas- 
phemy, pride,  foolishness."  There  are  dark  pages 
in  the  Bible ;  they  must  be  there  to  portray  man  in 
his  worst  state.  There  we  see  the  sins  of  Noah,  and 
Lot,  and  David,  and  Solomon,  and  of  Peter  and  Saul 
of  Tarsus.  It  tells  the  whole  truth,  it  screens  none. 
I  saw  an  infidel,  in  a  debate,  hold  up  a  Bible  and 
offer  ten  dollars  to  any  man  who  would  come  up  on 
the  rostrum,  and  read  a  few  passages  which  he  (the 
infidel)  would  select.  Of  course  no  one  came.  That 
was  evidence  to  Bible-haters  that  the  Bible  is  a  bad 
book,  not  fit  to  be  read  before  such  decent  people 
as  they  are.  Well,  there  are  in  the  Bible  hideous 
pictures  of  sin,  upon  which  we  look  with  shudder- 
ing, and  from  which  we  shrink  with  horror.  They 
are  there  simply  because  the  Bible  tells  the  plain 
truth  about  man  in  his  sins.  They  are  evidences 
of  the  truth  of  the  Bible.  Unlike  other  books  the 
Bible  also  tells  the  good  deeds  of  men — of  Joseph, 
Moses,  Paul,  Barnabas — without  one  word  of  praise. 
If  uninspired  men  wrote  the  Bible,  we  wonder  why 
uninspired  men  do  not  write  another  book  like  it. 
The  Bible  is  the  only  book  that  gives  us  the  whole 


290 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


range  of  humanity  from  the  vilest  depths  of  sin  to 
the  heavenly  heights  of  purity  and  Godlikeness. 
In  it  we  see  man  reeking  in  the  corruption  of  sin  ; 
and  in  it  we  see  man  redeemed,  sanctified,  exalted, 
meet  for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light.  The 
Bible  stands  alone  as  the  impartial  and  complete 
mirror  of  humanity. 

The  word  of  God  is  the  true  mirror  in  which  every 
man  may  see  himself.  The  individual,  personal  use 
of  the  mirror  concerns  each  one  more  than  it  does 
to  look  in  at  others.  How  shall  one  learn  the  truth 
about  himself?  Shall  he  ask  his  friend?  His  friend 
may  be  too  friendly  to  tell  him  all  the  truth  he  needs 
to  know.  Shall  he  ask  his  enemy?  He  might  tell 
him  truth  that  he  would  not  want  to  hear. '  The  per- 
fect mirror,  God's  word,  will  give  each  one  true  self- 
knowledge — the  exact,  although  severe,  truth  which 
he  can  get  fully  nowhere  else.  Here  every  man  may 
see  himself  as  he  is,  at  his  best  or  his  worst — his 
feelings,  motives,  actions — not  as  men  see  him,  but 
as  the  Searcher  of  hearts  would  have  him  see  him- 
self. 

It  happens  sometimes  that  a  man  does  not  at  once 
know  himself  in  a  true  looking-glass.  I  heard  of  a 
friend  who,  while  in  our  capital  city  attending  a 
state  fair,  happened  to  look  into  a  full-length  mirror, 
and  exclaimed,  "  Why  !  are  you  here  too,  Oliver  ? " 
He  thought  he  saw  his  brother.  It  is  possible  for  a 
man  to  need  a  better  acquaintance  with  himself  be- 
fore he  can  distinguish  himself  from  his  brother, 
when  he  sees  himself  in  the  mirror  of  divine  truth. 


THE  MIREOE. 


291 


He  may  not  recognize  that  picture  of  covetousness, 
pride,  hypocrisy,  as  the  faithful  reflection  of  him- 
self. 

The  mirror  does  not  profit  the  blind  man ;  and  to 
nothing  else  is  man  so  wilfully  and  persistently  Mind 
as  he  is  to  the  truth  in  regard  to  himself.  He  closes 
his  eyes  rather  than  see  himself  in  the  light  of  God's 
truth.  Only  when  he  is  willing  to  see  himself  a  sin- 
ner can  he  enter  upon  the  pathway  that  is  lighted 
"by  the  truth  from  heaven. 

The  mirror  is  honest  and  frank ;  it  will  tell  us  the 
truth  about  ourselves  without  equivocation,  flattery, 
or  mental  reservation.  But  we  must  face  it  squarely, 
and  look  into  it  without  dodging.  A  man  may  be 
tempted  to  stand  just  a  little  to  one  side,  and  look 
in  at  such  an  angle  that  he  will  not  see  himself,  but 
will  see  his  brother ;  while  his  brother  may  also  look 
in  at  a  like  angle,  and  neither  one  will  see  himself. 
Each  one  will  stand  viewing  his  brother  and  his 
brother's  faults.  Do  we  look  into  the  Scriptures  to 
see  ourselves,  or  to  see  other  people  ?  To  look  at 
one's  self  may  be  profitable,  even  if  it  is  not  flatter- 
ing. 

The  mirror,  especially  the  Bible  mirror,  is  highly 
practical.  We  must  "  look  into  "  it,  not  once  for  all, 
but  we  must  "  continue  therein ; "  we  must  not  only 
continue  to  look,  but  we  must  "  do ; "  nor  must  we 
think  to  finish  our  doing  at  one  effort — we  must  con- 
tinue to  "  do."  The  looking  is  vain  if  it  is  not  fol- 
lowed by  the  doing.  If  we  look  at  ourselves  in  this 
mirror  in  this  first  chapter  of  James,  twenty -first 


292 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


verse,  we  may  see  "  filthiness,"  and  what  to  "  do " 
with  it.  "  Put  away  all  filthiness,"  of  thought,  and 
word,  and  deed.  Continuing  to  look  we  may  see 
"  overflowing  of  wickedness  " — in  the  margin  "  mal- 
ice," which  exists  in  the  heart  and  overflows  in  mal- 
icious words  and  actions.  Better  not  be  in  haste  to 
"  go  away  "  from  the  glass ;  there  may  "be  something 
for  us  to  "put  away;"  there  may  be  something  in 
"the  implanted  word"  for  us  to  "receive"  instead 
of  filthiness  and  malice.  If  we  do  not  put  away,  and 
receive,  as  we  are  taught,  the  word  will  not  "  save 
our  souls  "  from  all  filthiness  and  overflowing  of 
wickedness. 

Let  us  look  at  ourselves  in  the  mirror  at  Col.  3 : 
8-10.  "  But  now  put  ye  also  away  all  these ;  anger, 
wrath,  malice,  railing,  shameful  speech  out  of  your 
mouth ;  lie  not  one  to  another,  seeing  ye  have  put 
off  the  old  man  with  his  doings,  and  have  put  on  the 
new  man  which  is  being  renewed  unto  knowledge 
after  the  image  of  Him  that  created  him."  Standing 
before  the  mirror  at  this  chapter,  and  Eph.  4 : 21-32, 
and  many  like  passages,  and  looking  upon  our  own 
lips,  and  into  our  own  hearts,  do  we  find  them  clean  ? 
Anything  to  be  "  put  off  ? "  Is  there  any  lack  in  our 
spiritual  adorning  ?  Anything  to  be  "  put  on  ? " 
"  Put  on  therefore  as  God's  elect,  holy  and  beloved, 
a  heart  of  compassion,  kindness,  humility,  meek- 
ness, long  suffering,  forbearing  one  another,  and  for- 
giving each  other,  if  any  man  have  a  complaint 
against  any ;  even  as  the  Lord  forgave  you,  so  also 
do  ye :  and  above  all  these  things  put  on  love,  which 


THE   MIRROR.  293 

is  the  bond  of  perfectness."  How  shall  we  deal  with 
God's  mirror,  and  with  ourselves  in  the  use  of  it  ? 
Shall  we  continue  to  look  until  we  know  ourselves, 
as  we  can  know  by  no  other  means  ?  Shall  you,  shall 
I,  be  "  a  hearer  that  foigetteth,"  or  "  a  doer  that 
worketh  ? " 

This  divine  mirror  has  a  transforming  power  on 
the  heart  and  life  of  every  one  that  diligently  uses 
it.  In  it  there  is  mirrored  to  us  the  "  glory  of  God  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ."  "But  we  all  with  unveiled 
face  beholding  as  in  a  mirror  the  glory  of  the  Lord, 
are  transformed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to 
glory  " — from  glory  into  glory — "  even  as  from  the 
Lord  the  Spirit."  (2  Cor.  3: 18.)  We  behold  the 
pure,  loving,  exalted  character  of  Jesus — "  the  glory 
of  the  Lord."  We  look,  we  wonder,  we  adore,  we 
love.  We  desire  to  put  away  from  our  hearts  and 
our  lives  everything  that  is  unlike  Him.  We  strive, 
we  pray,  that  we  may  be  transformed  into  His  im- 
age in  love,  and  righteousness,  and  holiness  of  truth. 
How  blessed  shall  we  be  in  our  "  doing  "  when  we 
shall,  purify  ourselves  even  as  he  is  pure.  0  that 
we  may  by  the  prayerful  use  of  the  mirror,  and  by 
the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  prepared  for 
the  presence  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  the  society  of 
His  ransomed  and  purified  and  glorified  ones — for 
the  holiness  and  happiness  of  heaven. 


L.  C.  WILSON. 


L.  C.  WILSON, 


fHE  subject  of  thia  sketch,  Louis  Charles  Wilson,  was 
born  in  Fayette  County,  Indiana,  October  20, 1837.  In 
early  youth  his  parents  were  poor,  his  father  earning 
the  living  for  himself  and  family,  at  farming  and 
wagon  making.  Louis  received  such  learning  as  the 
j  common  school  afforded,  and  in  early  manhood  taught 
school  during  the  winter  months,  and  labored  during  the  sum- 
mer. 

About  the  age  of  eighteen  he  obeyed  the  gospel  under  the 
preaching  of  S.  K.  Hoshour,  at  Benton  ville,  Indiana,  his  father 
being  baptized  at  the  same  time.  His  mother  was  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Sarah  W.  Treadway,  daughter  of  Judge  Treadway,  of  Benton* 
ville,  Indiana,  December  29, 1859. 

The  following  spring  he  moved  to  Fairview,  Indiana,  and  fol- 
lowed farming  until  the  war  broke  out,  when  he  enlisted  in  the 
Third  Indiana  Cavalry,  and  was  First  Lieutenant,  Quarter- 
master and  Ordinance  officer,  operating  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  Was  in  the  battles  of  South  Mountain,  Antietam, 
Chancellorsville,  Fredericksburg  and  Gettysburg ;  and  passed 
through  the  Wilderness  with  Grant.  He  was  also  in  the  famous 
Wilson  raid  in  the  rear  of  Richmond.  Was  a  prisoner  in  Libby 
prison  and  on  Belle  Island,  and  after  more  than  three  years 
hard  service  returned  home. 

In  the  spring  of  1865,  he  sold  his  farm  and  moved  to  Dublin, 
Wayne  County,  Indiana,  and  engaged  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness. In  this  he  failed.  And,  prompted  by  a  desire  of  long 
standing  to  preach,  in  the  autumn  of  1871  he  removed  to  Iowa 
City,  Iowa.  A  stranger  in  a  strange  land.  He  sought  for 
places  to  preach,  believing  that  the  best  way  to  begin  preaeh- 

295 


296 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ing  was  to  begin.  He  found  warm  friends  in  the  persons  of 
John  Hay,  then  State  Evangelist,  and  J.  Mad.  Williams,  pastor 
of  the  church. 

His  first  preaching  was  at  Solon,  fifteen  miles  from  his  home 
whither  he  went  on  foot,  to  and  from  his  appointments. 

In  the  spring  of  1872,  he  removed  to  Brighton,  Iowa,  preach- 
ing there  part'  of  his  time  for  nine  consecutive  years;  and  at 
the  same  time  preaching  part  of  the  time  at  Pleasant  Hill 
church,  Columbus  City,  La  Claire,  and  was  district  evangelist 
in  the  Southeast  District  of  the  State.  In  all  these  fields  his 
labors  have  been  successful,  and  hundreds  of  friends  remember 
him  kindly  to  this  day. 

In  the  autumn  of  1881,  he  temporarily  abandoned  the  work 
and  went  to  Irvington,  Indiana,  to  school  his  children;  but 
claims  still  to  be  an  Iowa  preacher. 

He  has  attended  one  year  himself,  taking  the  Bible  course, 
and  is  now  superintendent  of  the  Dormitory  and  Janitor  of  the 
University,  besides  preaching  every  Lord's  day  at  convenient 
places,  where  it  will  not  interfere  with  the  purposes  of  his 
sojourn  in  the  State. 

In  personal  appearance  Bro.  Wilson  is  about  five  feet  six 
inches  in  height,  and  weighs  about  135  pounds.  Light  brown 
hair,  blue  eyes  and  prominent  forehead.  In  the  pulpit  he  is 
earnest,  almost  vehement  sometimes  ;  and  gives  evidence  that 
he  has  been  studying  hard,  the  theme  he  is  discussing. 

He  is  energetic,  industrious,  companionable,  cheerful  and 
healthy.  Every  ready  to  do  his  part  in  any  undertaking  for  the 
public  good. 


"WHAT  TfflM  YOU  OF  CHRIST1 

WHOSE  SON  IS  HEP 


VIEWED  FROM  A  SECULAR  STANDPOINT 


BY  L.  0.  WILSOIT. 


INTRODUCTION. 

OD  demands  of  every  intelligent  creature,  a 
thoughtful  answer  to  the  questions  under 
consideration. 

The  importance  of  a  correct  answer  to  the 
above  inquiries,  may  be  measured  by  the 
pains  our  Heavenly  Father  has  taken  to  furnish  His 
creatures  with  all-sufficient  testimony,  to  enable 
them  to  come  to  a  safe  conclusion  respecting  these 
interesting  interrogatories. 

The  evidence  is  all  that  could  be  demanded,  or,  it 
is  not 

If,  upon  a  careful  and  honest  investigation,  the 
evidence  is  found  incomplete,  then,  man  is  not  re- 
sponsible, if  he  lacks  faith. 

If  God's  revelation  is  able  to  convince,  then  man 
is  responsible. 


298 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


The  Christian  accepts  the  Bible  account  of  <h© 
wonderful  life  of  Jesus,  and  says,  it  is  enongh  to 
convince  every  man,  that  Jesns  is  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  Grod. 

It  is  believed  there  are  many  honest  and  fair- 
minded  persons,  called  Infidels,  or  Skeptics,  who 
say  it  is  not  enough. 

It  is  this  honest  doubter,  that  I  crave  for  my  audi- 
ence, while  one  more  humble  effort  is  made  to  show 
him  the  Messiah. 

Divine  aid  is  asked  for,  a  patient  hearing  desired. 

For  the  present,  we  have  no  use  for  the  Bible. 
Would  that  the  reader  could  forget  that  he  ever  saw 
a  Bible. 

Fain  would  I  blot  from  his  memory  every  utter- 
ance of  the  Sacred  Word. 

So  far  as  our  present  purpose  is  concerned,  the 
infidel  may  close  the  Bible  and  seal  it  up.  This  is 
gratuitous,  but  the  privilege  is  granted. 

Of  course  it  was  the  friends  of  Jesus  who  wrote 
His  life ;  but  are  not  friends  as  apt  to  tell  the  truth 
as  enemies. 

Who  knows  the  character  of  a  man  better  than 
his  most  intimate  friends. 

Shall  a  man's  testimony  be  impeached  because  he 
is  your  bosom  companion  ? 

Were  you  on  trial  for  your  life,  you  would  feel 
just  indignation  if  your  personal  friends  were  ruled 
out  of  court,  and  only  your  enemies  allowed  to 
testify. 


WHAT  THINK  TOU  OP  CHRIST  f  909 

But  as  the  doubting  reader  is  to  be  Judge  and 
Jury  in  this  trial,  we  move  to  strike  out  the  tes- 
timony of  friends,  and  examine  only  such  witnesses 
as  can  have  no  interest  in  the  case.  We  will  rest 
the  case  in  hand,  with  the  enemies  of  Jesus,  Pro- 
fane History,  and  with  the  doubter  himself. 

Relying,  then,  upon  what  we  can  see,  and  know, 
we  ask — was  Jesus  a  man  only  \  or,  was  He  God  in 
man? 

FIRST  ARGUMENT 

Upon  the  hypothesis  that  Jesus  was  a  man,  only, 
it  is  wonderful  that  He  was  ever  heard  of  after 
His  death. 

He  was  born  of  obscure  parentage,  and  under 
very  embarrassing  circumstances.  There  were  but 
few  books  in  the  world,  and  hard  to  be  obtained — 
hence  but  little  enlightenment.  Cruelty  and  bar- 
barism prevailed.  Human  life  was  a  cheap  com- 
modity. The  physical  was  cultivated  at  the  neglect 
of  the  mental.  The  moral  and  spiritual  man  was 
not  known.  Nations  lived  by  conquest,  their  motto 
being — "  Might  makes  right"  His  own  kindred  re- 
jected Him. 

Nothing  surrounded  His  advent  into  the  world 
that  gave  Him  character  or  furnished  Him  position. 
He  nestled  among  the  vine  clad  hills  of  Judea  as  a 
Jewish  peasant  boy. 

We  must  wake  the  painful  silence  of  the  rocks 
and  hills  of  Palestine,  or  we  shall  never  know  the 
history  of  His  early  life. 


800 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Thirty  years  of  His  life  have  passed  away,  and  H« 
■teps  upon  the  stage  of  action  a  stranger. 
If  He  was  only  a  man,  then  there  are  thousands 

of  men  to-day  who  have  the  advantage  of  Him. 

A  large  number  of  persons  could  be  named  who 
are  older  than  Jesus  was,  and  have  preached  more 
sermons,  have  more  money,  have  a  wider  reputation, 
and  are  surrounded  by  the  accumulated  advantages 
and  resources  of  eighteen  centuries  of  unprecedented 
progress. 

Will  these  men,  with  all  their  advantages  and 
living  in  the  golden  age  of  the  world,  create  such  a 
commotion  as  Jesus  did  ?  When  they  do  it  will  be 
time  for  our  faith  to  falter. 

The  enemies  of  Jesus  and  Profane  History  say 
He  was  crucified. 

What  for?  For  treason  against  the  Roman  gov- 
ernment, and  for  blasphemy — in  that  He  said  He 
was  the  Son  of  God. 

Did  He  tell  the  truth  ?  That's  the  question  we 
started  with,  let  us  proceed.  If  He  was  .simply  a 
man,  dying  as  a  malefactor  why  did  not  His  name 
die  when  His  body  was  laid  in  the  grave  ?  or  rather 
why  did  it  live  and  gather  new  life  ? 

He  was  discussed  more  after  His  death  than  be- 
fore. 

It  was  not  until  after  His  ignominius  death,  that 
He  was  known. 

Why  did  His  influence  deepen  and  widen,  until 
eighteen  centuries  with  their  myriads  of  throbbing 
human  lives  have  climbed  the  hill  and  gone  to  rest 


WHAT  THIXK  TOU  OF  CHRIRTl 


80S 


on  the  other  side,  and  still  His  influence  knows  vf 

bounds  ? 

Why  is  He  preached  more  and  loved  more  to-day 
than  ever  before. 

Friendly  reader,  if  He  was  only  a  man,  how  will 
you  account  for  this  ? 

Julius  Caesar  was  a  general,  a  statesman,  a  law- 
giver, an  orator,  a  mathematician,  an  historian,  an 
architect,  and  so  pre-eminent  was  he  in  all  these 
that  Shakespeare  says :  "  he  was  the  foremost  man 
of  aU  the  world." 

Julius  Caesar  died,  and  his  life  as  compared  with 
Jesus  is  forgotten. 

Nobody  worships  him  to-day.  None  sing  his 
praises.  All,  all  are  willing  to  let  him  sleep  on  in 
the  grave  where  the  Roman  has  laid  him. 

Augustus  Csesar,  Alexander,  Philip  of  Macedon, 
and  Queen  Dido,  built  kingdoms,  tore  down  empires, 
erected  monuments  and  mighty  cities,  but  they  have 
been  sleeping  in  the  dust  for  thousands  of  years, 
and  are  only  remembered  as  we  turn  the  musty 
pages  of  ancient  history.  Nothing  else  visible  re- 
minds us  that  such  persons  ever  lived. 

You  can  scarcely  lift  your  eyes  in  any  direction 
that  the  church  spire  does  not  meet  your  gaze ;  and 
when  you  ask,  what  it  is,  the  answer  is,  Jesus! 

See  yon  cloud  of  Sunday-school  scholars.  It  is 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  passing  by. 

In  a  few  days  after  the  death  of  Jesus,  Jerusalem 
trembled,  throbbed  and  thrilled  at  the  bare  mention 
«f  His  nam* 


302 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


It  was  said  He  was  alive.  It  was  to  the  interest 
of  Roman  and  Jew  to  stop  the  report.  For  if  He 
was  alive  again  He  was  what  He  said  He  was,  the 
Son  of  God,  and  His  murderers  must  stand  con- 
demned before  the  world. 

Need  there  be  any  excitement  if  He  is  still  in  the 
grave?  None  whatever.  It  is  the  Roman  power 
and  the  Jewish  hate  on  the  one  side,  and  a  few  timid 
disciples  on  the  other. 

If  Jesus  is  in  the  grave,  none  knew  it  better  than 
the  centurion  and  his  hundred  men. 

How  do  matters  stand  at  this  interesting  junc- 
ture? 

The  unarmed  disciples  of  Jesus,  few  and  scattered 
are  charging  the  authorities  with  murdering  an  in- 
nocent man,  and  they  say  He  is  alive  again,  risen 
from  the  dead. 

A  serious  charge,  a  marvelous  tale. 

Why  did  not  the  Roman  power  then  and  there 
put  this  matter  at  rest  forever,  and  beyond  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  lingering  doubt  ? 

The  army  was  at  their  command,  their  accusers 
were  seen  every  day,  the  grave  of  Jesus  joined  hard 
by  the  city  walls.  The  Jews  were  full  of  hate 
towards  His  followers,  and  the  heathen  had  no  love 
for  them. 

Why  did  not  the  authorities  arrest  these  disturb- 
ers of  the  peace,  take  them  to  the  grave  of  the  de- 
spised Nazarene,  and  say  to  them — "  here  is  the 
place  where  we  laid  him.  as  ye  yourselves  also 
know ;  and  for  fear  you  would  steal  Him  away  and 


WHAT  THINK  YOU  OF  OHEIOTl 


803 


bring  His  blood  upon  us,  we  placed  this  stone  at  the 
entrance  of  the  tomb  and  affixed  thereto  the  great 
seal  of  Rome.  See !  It  is  unbroken  still  and  this  is 
the  fifth  day.  We  will  break  the  seal  and  roll  the 
stone  away.    'Tis  done. 

Soldiers,  bring  forth  the  body.  See  those  features 
and  the  nail  prints  in  His  hands  and  feet  ? 

"Others  might  have  the  same  marks"  says  a 
disciple. 

"Then,"  says  the  Centurion,  "behold  the  spear 
wound,  and  the  marks  where  the  crown  of  thorns 
rested,  and  remember  that  no  crucified  one  was  ever 
pierced  before,  no  criminal  ever  thus  crowned  before. 
These,  sirs,  are  unmistakable  marks.  And  now  if 
you  rebels  do  not  cease  the  cry,  he  is  risen,  he  is 
risen,  we  will  crucify  the  last  one  of  you." 

Why  did  they  not  do  this  ? 

Herod  would  have  been  justified  in  pursuing  such 
a  course ;  for  if  Jesus  had  been  found  in  the  grave 
it  would  have  proven  Him  a  deceiver  and  a  liar,  for 
He  said  He  would  rise;  a  robber,  for  He  had  be- 
trayed men  from  their  business  with  no  prospect  of 
remuneration ;  a  traitor  to  His  country  and  people, 
for  He  sounded  the  rallying  cry  that  gathered  His 
friends  around  Him,  and  inspired  them  to  follow 
His  banner,  all  of  which  was  against  the  peace  and 
safety  of  the  Roman  government,  and  made  war 
upon  the  Jewish  religion  as  well. 

Again,  I  ask,  why  did  not  Rome  bring  forth  the 
body? 


KM 


THE  IOWA  FULPTT. 


Do  you  say,  "  the  disciples  stole  Him  away  while 

the  guards  were  asleep." 

Rome's  mailed  legions  never  slept  on  guard.  But 
if  they  had  ?  The  disciples  themselves  did  not  be- 
lieve He  would  rise.  They  too,  were  infidels.  They 
could  have  no  interest  in  stealing  His  body  away ; 
for  had  they  understood  His  mission  and  believed  in 
His  resurrection,  they  could  not  have  proved  it  with 
a  score  of  dead  Christs. 

Away  forever  with  such  absurdities.  The  third 
time  I  ask,  why  did  not  His  enemies  roll  away  the 
stone  and  bring  forth  the  body  ? 

In  view  of  all  the  circumstances  but  one  answer 
coin  be  given. 

It  too*  not  there. 

He  had  said,  "  I  am  the  Christ ;"  and  this  utter- 
ance began  to  assume  such  proportions  that  it  could 
not  be  crushed.  It  seemed  to  contain  a  divine  im- 
pulse that  swept  it  out  into  the  ocean  of  human 
life,  like  the  driven  bark  before  the  tornado. 

If  His  statement  was  untrue,  would  it  not  have 
fallen  by  its  own  weight  ? 

If  untrue,  there  could  be  no  proof  of  its  truthful- 
ness. 

Could  such  a  statement  live  and  flourish  for  ages, 
having  no  foundation  in  fact?  "Some  years  ago 
men  resolved  to  build  a  great  ship  that  would  plow 
through  any  wave  without  rocking,  and  they  built 
the  Great  Eastern."  "  The  greatest  engineer  of  the 
day  said  it  could  not  be  done." 

"  As  the  proud  ship  pushed  away  from  the  dock, 
on  her  trial  trip,  he  watched  her  intently." 


WHAT  THINK  YOU  OF  CHRIST  f 


305 


Presently,  with  a  burst  of  joy,  he  exclaimed, 

"Thank  God  she  rocks." 

He  knew  that  when  God's  strong  finger  would 
touch  her  fore  and  aft,  that  her  mighty  beams  would 
snap,  and  her  giant  hull  groan  like  some  dying 
monster. 

So  of  the  declaration — "  God  has  made  that  same 
Jesus  whom  ye  crucified,  both  Lord  and  Christ." — If 
untrue,  it  contained  the  elements  of  self-destruction. 

Had  it  been  a  human  utterance,  it  would  long  since 
have  gone  to  pieces  upon  God's  surging  ocean  of 
human  life. 

Upon  the  hypothesis  that  Jesus  was  man  only, 
how  will  you  account  for  the  marvelous  things  con- 
nected with  His  life? 

How  did  this  Jewish  peasant  organize  and  set  on 
foot  a  revolution  that  has  swept  down  across  the 
ages,  swaying  multitudes  as  the  cyclone  sways  the 
forest;  uprooting  long-established  customs,  banish- 
ing old  forms  of  religion  and  changing  the  juris- 
prudence of  the  entire  civilized  world  ? 

Jesus  never  wrote  books,  He  did  not  study  books ; 
yet  in  spite  of  this  acknowledged  truth,  Joseph  Er- 
nest Renan,  the  great  French  Infidel,  says  in  his 
"Life  of  Jesus,"  "The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  will 
never  be  surpassed."  "  The  foundation  of  the  true 
religion  is  indeed  His  (Jesus')  work." 

If  Jesus  was  man  only,  how  did  He  accomplish 
such  important  and  lasting  changes,  many  of  them 
being  wrought  out  by  His  disciples  after  His  death  t 


800 


THK  IOWA  PXTLPIT. 


BECOND  ARGUMENT. 

Jesus  had  no  wealth  or  position. 

Men  of  wealth  and  position  may,  and  often  do,  at- 
tain to  high  renown.  Even  then,  it  is  a  hard  earned 
prize.  The  life  of  Jesus,  until  thirty  years  of  age, 
was,  as  the  world  looked  upon  it,  a  perfect  blank. 
No  wealth,  no  military,  political,  social  or  religious 
position  ;  yet  in  three  years  he  had  caused  the  world 
to  change  front,  and  it  has  been  marching  that  way 
ever  since." 

And  what  is  stranger  still,  when  we  take  into  ac- 
count the  state  of  society  in  His  day,  the  only  instru- 
ment He  used  was  moral  power.  He  sought  to 
coerce  no  man.  He  bought  none.  It  was  not  policy 
with  Him,  but  principle.  He  made  no  effort  to  ride 
into  favor  upon  the  popular  current,  but  was  always 
in  the  minority.  This  arrayed  against  Him  the 
prejudice  and  hate  of  a  brutish  people.  He  made 
war,  as  the  Jews  saw  it,  upon  the  time-honored  and 
heaven-ordained  Jewish  religion,  by  proclaiming 
that  its  end  was  nigh  at  hand. 

He  was  an  iconoclast,  and  for  this  cause  was  con- 
temned by  the  Pagan  world.  Weighed  down  by 
all  these  embarrassments,  He  began  His  public  ca- 
reer. More  auspicious  circumstances  have  smiled 
upon  thousands  of  men,  yet  Jesus  has  not  a  peer 
among  them. 

"In  the  cemetery  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  the  re- 
mains of  two  Presidents  lie  buried.  Virginia's  pride 
has  erected  a  small  granite  column  over  one,  the 


WHAT  THINK  YOU  OF  CHRIST  I  307 


other  has  not  so  much  as  a  board  with  name  penciled 
thereon."  A  President  of  the  United  States  forgot- 
ten. At  his  will  armies  could  be  created  and 
equipped  for  war.  The  Navy  could  be  sent  out  upon 
the  high  seas.  The  Treasury  was  at  his  command. 
Forty  millions  of  people  bowed  to  his  mandate  and 
thought  it  an  honor  to  do  his  bidding.  The  Presi- 
dent died  and  is  forgotten.  Jesus  died,  but  lives 
again  in  spite  of  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  de- 
mons. Do  what  you  will,  my  doubting  friend,  you 
cannot  ignore  Him.  Every  church  house  is  a  monu- 
ment to  His  memory  His  influence  is  felt  in  every 
jail  and  penitentiary;  in  every  alms-house  and  asy- 
lum ;  in  every  orphans'  home  and  reform  school. 

You  see  and  enjoy  the  sweet  and  gentle  influence 
of  His  life  in  your  own  home.  You  are  indebted  to 
Him  for  the  Christian  mother  who  gave  you  birth ; 
whose  sweet  voice  in  the  hush  of  night,  breathed  into 
your  young  life  and  taught  you  to  repeat  the  sacred 
words — 

"Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep." 

You  would  not  forget  them  if  you  could ;  and  yon 
are  indebted  to  Him  for  this  goodness  of  your  own 
heart. 

Again :  The  world  has  given  us  great  scholars, 
politicians,  historians,  men  of  military  prowess  ;  but 
it  required  a  long  life  and  patient  application  to 
make  them. 

They  had  the  learning  and  experience  of  the  world 
to  begin  with.  In  this  way  and  this  only,  they  were 
able  to  create  eventful  lives. 


808 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Jesus  created  a  life  with  nothing  to  begin  with  ; 
the  most  wonderful  life  on  record.  A  life  that  is 
woven  into  and  has  become  an  essential  part  of  the 
life  of  every  kindred,  nation,  tribe  and  tongue. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  Jesus  had  no  wealth  or 
position,  and  upon  the  supposition  that  He  was  man 
only,  environed  by  all  the  hinderances  to  greatness 
that  any  age  of  semi-civilization  could  produce,  how 
will  you  account  for  His  present  standing  before  the 
world  ? 

What  think  you  of  Christ  f 

THIRD  ARGUMENT. 

Chrisfs  government  or  kingdom. 

Every  person  who  has  few  or  many  followers,  may 
in  truth,  be  said  to  have  some  kind  of  a  government. 

Aided  by  history,  let  us  study  this  point  briefly. 

Tacit  as  was  a  Roman  historian,  born  about  A.  D. 
59.  He  gives  us  an  account  of  the  burning  of 
Rome  by  Nero,  and  says,  "  Nero  charged  the  crime 
upon  the  Christians."  In  his  history  we  learn  that 
there  was  such  a  person  as  Christ ;  and  that  the 
Christians  derived  their  name  from  Him.  That  He 
was  put  to  death  by  Pilate. 

Gribbon  admits  that  this  testimony  must  be  re- 
ceived. 

Pliny  was  governor  of  Pontus  and  Bithynia,  and 
a  co temporary  of  Tacitus.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
Emperor  Trajan  concerning  the  persecution  of  Chris- 
tians, from  which  we  glean  the  following. 


WHAT  THINK  YOU  OF  CHRIST  f 


309 


"  They  "  (Christians)  "  were  wont  to  meet  together 
on  a  stated  day  before  it  was  light,  and  sing  among 
themselves,  alternately,  a  hymn  to  Christ,  as  God, 
and  bind  themselves  by  an  oath,  not  to  the  commis- 
sion of  any  wickedness,  but  not  to  be  guilty  of  theft, 
or  robbery,  or  adultery,  never  to  falsify  their  word, 
nor  to  deny  a  pledge  committed  to  them  when  called 
upon  to  return  it." 

Again:  "For  it  has  appeared  to  me  a  matter 
highly  deserving  consideration,  especially  on  ac- 
count of  the  great  number  of  persons  who  are  in 
danger  of  suffering ;  for  many  of  all  ages,  and  of 
every  rank,  of  both  sexes  likewise,  are  accused  and 
will  be  accused." 

Suetonius,  a  Roman  historian  born  about  A.  D. 
70,  in  his  life  of  the  Emperor  Claudius  who  reigned 
from  A.  D,  41  to  54,  says  that  "  Claudius  banished 
the  Jews  from  Rome — who  were  continually  making 
disturbances,  Ghristus  —  a  well-known  heathen 
name  for  Christ — being  their  leader." 

Renan,  in  his  life  of  Christ,  makes  frequent  men- 
tion of  the  disciples,  Christ's  church  or  kingdom,  and 
of  the  superiority  of  his  work  over  every  other  Re- 
former. 

We  learn  from  these  enemies  of  Jesus  that  His 
work  was  good,  for  His  disciples  pledged  themselves 
to  do  no  evil.  That  He  was  worshiped  as  one  divine. 
That  great  numbers  had  been  gathered  into  His 
church,  and  that  He  had  a  government,  or  kingdom, 
called  the  church. 


310 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


It  is  admitted  by  the  enemies  of  Jesus  that  He 
founded  a  government,  yet  they  claim  He  was  only 
a  good  man. 

They  tell  us  His  government  was  most  bitterly 
persecuted.  That  it  was  hated  by  every  nation. 
But  they  failed  to  tell  us  why  the  heathen  powers 
did  not  blot  it  out  of  existence.  Certainly  they  were 
not  wanting  in  desire ;  neither  did  they  lack  power ; 
for  Rome's  legions  rendezvoused  in  every  nation 
under  heaven. 

Empire  after  Empire  had  been  swallowed  up  by 
her.  Her  scepter  was  as  long  as  the  world  was  wide. 
She  had  arisen  to  the  zenith  of  her  glory.  Tired  of 
killing.  Sick  of  shedding  blood.  The  world  was  at 
peace 

Just  at  this  time  a  stranger  attracts  the  attention  of 
the  world.  He  is  young,  and  not  well  enough  known 
to  have  a  reputation. 

No  army  wheels  into  line  at  His  command.  No 
sword  leaps  from  its  scabbard  at  His  bidding.  No 
treasury  door  opens  at  His  word.  His  followers  are 
a  few  feeble  fishermen,  without  a  name  and  without 
influence. 

He  is  disowned  by  His  own  kinsmen.  Thus  He 
appears — unheralded,  in  that  day,  save  by  him  who 
wore  a  leather  girdle. 

Unarmed,  unbidden,  and  unwelcomed.  And  what 
are  among  His  first  words : 

"I  am  going  to  be  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
lords."   Verily,  He  talks  like  a  man. 


WHAT  THINK  YOU  OF  OHEIST!  311 

Think  of  the  presumption  of  a  young  man  who 
could  make  such  a  boast.  It  is  no  wonder  they 
said,  "  He  hath  a  demon." 

"  Were  I  to  say,  "  I  shall  be  President  of  the 
United  States,  not  only  for  one,  two,  three,  or  four 
terms,  but  until  every  nation  shall  have  laid  her 
scepter  at  my  feet — yea,  until  our  proud  flag  shall 
float  in  triumph  over  every  land,  and  every  sea,  the 
brethren  would  say — he  has  lost  his  mind.  Some 
boy  might  say — he  hath  a  devil." 

Rome  had  met  armies  ten  times  ten  thousand 
strong  and  triumphed.  She  made  king  whom  she 
would,  and  whom  she  would  she  dethroned;  and 
now  this  Jew  says  he's  going  to  be  king. 

The  word  has  gone  forth,  He  is  committed  to  the 
work ;  and  the  Roman  Empire,  from  circumference 
to  center  is  opposed  to  Him. 

Let  us  note  the  events  which  time  has  chronicled, 
and  from  the  rise  and  fall  of  these  two  kingdoms, 
Caesar's,  and  Christ's,  let  us  decide  whether  He  was 
man,  only,  or  God  in  man. 

In  less  than  200  years  the  doctrine  of  Christ  over- 
ran Caesar's  Empire  and  made  it  impossible  for  any, 
save  a  Christian  Emperor  to  rule  the  Roman  people. 

Religions,  centuries  old  gave  place  to  His.  Gov- 
ernments founded  by  political  strength  and  military 
prowess  went  to  pieces  like  cob-webs  before  the 
tempest.  The  walls  and  monuments,  tombs,  towers 
and  temples  that  adorned  their  cities  have  long 
since  slept  in  the  dust  of  the  valley. 


812 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Christ's  government,  small,  weak,  hated,  perse- 
cuted as  bitterly  as  heathen  rage  could  invent, 
moved  steadily  on. 

The  whirling  sands  caught  up  by  the  Red  Simoon 
have  buried  the  palaces  of  kings  with  the  wonders 
of  the  world.  The  archaeologist  who  makes  a  pil- 
grimage to  the  Orient  to  study  the  inscriptions  and 
hieroglyphics  of  the  ancient  world,  instead  of  stand- 
ing at  the  base  of  the  walls,  shafts,  and  pyramids, 
to  gaze  at  their  wondrous  and  giddy  heights,  takes 
his  pick-ax  and  spade  and  exhumes  their  buried 
glory  from  the  accumulated  dust  of  centuries. 

The  kingdom  of  Christ  passed  through  all  these 
vicissitudes,  and  is  stronger  to-day  than  ever  be- 
fore. The  glory  of  his  kingdom  is  above  the 
ground. 

The  energizing  power  of  His  kingdom  took  the 
wings  of  the  morning  and  glided  into  every  part  of 
the  habitable  earth. 

His  rising  glory  met  the  descending  smiles  of 
His  Father,  while  a  cohort  of  angels  sang  His  praises 
in  mid  air.  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on 
earth  peace,  goodwill  toward  men." 

Wonderful  man  I  If  only  a  man,  then  the  miracle 
of  miracles. 

He  affected  such  a  revolution  that  every  civilized 
nation  acknowledges  His  claims;  encourages,  pro- 
tects and  fosters  the  spread  of  His  kingdom.  Jesus 
is  to-day  confessed  in  every  legal  instrument  of 
writing. 


WHAT  THINK  YOU  OF  CHRIST  f  813 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  the  Czar  of  Russia 
cannot  convene  his  lords,  declare  war  or  conclude 
peace  without  first  writing,  Anno  Domini,  1884. 

The  autocrat  of  the  world  bows  in  honor  to  King 
Jesus. 

Every  proclamation,  civil,  military  or  ecclesiasti- 
cal ;  every  court,  conference  or  council ;  every  note, 
deed,  mortgage  or  bond  has  stamped  upon  it  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  birth  of  Jesus. 

Whence  this  notoriety,  this  strange  power  to  live  ? 
He  wielded  no  carnal  weapon.  He  promised  none  a 
seat  in  His  cabinet. 

Notwithstanding,  His  kingdom  grew,  and  widened 
and  strengthened  in  spite  of  the  fiercest  persecutions 
skillfully  planned,  and  waged  with  such  unrelenting 
fury  that  cities  were  almost  depopulated,  and  Rome 
was  drunk  with  the  blood  of  martyrs. 

Still  the  kingdom  of  Christ  survives.  It  outlives 
the  ten  persecutions,  though  they  were  each  de- 
signed and  engineered  by  the  shrewdest  hands, 
and  executed  with  relentless  hate. 

During  the  dark  ages  about  60,000,000  Christians 
went  down  to  martyrs'  graves,  but  the  truth  for 
which  they  died  took  deeper  root,  and  defied  the  op- 
position of  every  foe. 

Rome "  surrendered  her  territory  to  the  embassa- 
dors of  the  cross. 

The  principles  of  Christ's  government  became  an 
important  factor  in  every  civilized  land.  Roman 
doctrine — "Might  makes  right,"  is  accepted  by 
none. 


814 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Remembering  the  time,  place  and  circumstances 
associated  with  the  birth  of  Christ's  kingdom,  how 
can  we  account  for  its  marvelons  growth  and  unpre- 
cedented permanency  ? 

Grant  that  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  and  all  is 
plain.  Deny  it,  and  His  works  will  never  be  ac- 
counted for. 

Reader,  what  think  you  of  Christ  ? 

FOURTH  ARGUMENT. 

The  constitution  of  Christ's  government. 

Jesus  having  founded  a  government,  must  needa 
have  a  constitution  to  direct  its  movements. 

We  cannot  conceive  of  a  government  without  law. 
Prom  the  long  tried  school  of  bitter  experience  we 
expect  the  purest  legislation. 

It  has  taken  6,000  years  of  trial  and  earnest  toil 
for  man  to  develop  such  a  government  as  ours.  It 
has  passed  through  two  baptisms  of  blood,  and  still 
it  is  far  from  being  perfect. 

Governments  are  the  outgrowth  of  the  wants  of 
the  people. 

Make  the  people  better  and  the  laws  will  be 

better. 

Jesus  over-stepped  all  these  necessary  human  ex- 
pedients and  founded  a  government  in  a  day ;  and 
gave  to  the  children  of  men  a  rule  of  life  suited  to 
every  age  and  nationality. 

The  constitution  of  His  government  can  be  admin- 
istered in  every  part  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  North 


WHAT  THINK  YOU  OF  CHRIST  f 


815 


and  South  America,  and  in  the  islands  of  the  sea. 
without  let  or  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  the  civil 
government  thereof. 

Eenan  say,  "  Jesus  while  he  announced  an  unpa] 
alleled  revolution  in  human  affairs,  proclaimed  the 
principles  upon  which  society  has  reposed  for  the 
last  eighteen  hundred  years." 

This  infidel  might  have  gone  a  step  farther  and 
said,  every  nation  that  has  rejected  the  principles 
taught  by  Jesus,  has  been  blotted  out  of  existence 
or  been  severely  scourged  ? 

Where  is  the  Jewish  nation  ?  Scattered,  peeled 
and  torn.  The  Roman  Empire  has  been  powdered 
as  if  between  the  upper  and  nether  millstone. 

Turkey  is  rotten  to  the  core  and  trembling  on  th 
verge  of  ruin. 

Thus  it  has  been,  and  thus  it  will  be  to  all  wL  > 
spurn  with  contempt  the  authority  of  the  King  6i 
the  universe. 

You  can  tell  where  the  constitution  of  Christ  has 
been  accepted  by  looking  at  the  map  of  the  world. 
Is  there  a  trading  post  marked  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  New  Zealand,  or  Madagascar,  where  the 
steamer  lands  and  discharges  her  cargo? 

The  missionary  taught  the  savages  the  law  of 
Christ,  and  thus  made  it  possible  for  the  merchant 
man  to  land  there  in  safety. 

Is  there  an  inland  town  where  railroads  ply  their 
busy  trade  ? 

The  missionary  was  the  advance  guard  who  pre- 
pared the  way  by  teaching  the  natives  the  brother- 
hood of  man  and  the  Fatherhood  of  God. 


31« 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


No  steamboat,  locomotive,  telegraph  or  printing 
press  ever  ventured  upon  an  uncivilized  shore  in  ad- 
vance of  the  heralds  of  the  cross. 

Did  infidelity,  with  its  philosophy  ever  civilize, 
and  save  a  single  tribe  ?  The  history  of  the  world 
for  thousands  of  years  furnishes  not  a  single 
example. 

The  constitution  of  Christ's  government  was  vastly 
different  from  anything  ever  before  heard  of.  It  an- 
tagonized the  ruling  and  reigning  elements  of  every 
existing  government ;  yet,  it  was  so  framed  as  to 
meet  the  deep  longing  of  the  human  soul,  and  could 
be  obeyed  without  infringing  any  humane  law.  It 
was  adapted  to  the  people  of  the  nineteenth  century 
as  well  as  to  the  first. 

It  had  within  it  the  power  to  educate,  enlighten, 
tnd  refine,  such  as  no  other  rule  of  life  ever  did 
have.    It  can  reform  the  worst  of  men. 

Gibbon,  the  infidel  historian,  in  reciting  the  bar- 
barian invasion  speaks  of  the  Christian  Italians 
who  were  carried  away  into  slavery  and  says: 
''Truth  and  candor  compel  us  to  admit  that  the 
story  of  the  cross,  told  by  these  captive  slaves,  trans- 
formed pirates  and  robbers  into  honest  and  peace- 
ful men." 

The  constitution  of  Christ's  government  never 
wears  out  It  never  grows  old.  It  needs  no  chang- 
ing. Every  time  man  seeks  to  improve  it,  he  mars 
its  simplicity. 

The  Gospels  are  highly  esteemed  by  Infidels  them- 
selves.  Kenan,  in  his  "Life'  of  Christ"  makes  791 


WHAT  THINK  YOU  OF  CHRIST  f 


317 


quotations  from  Matthew,  384  from  Mark,  and  606 
from  Luke ;  never  calling  them  in  question. 

Speaking  of  these  sacred  books  he  says,  "  All  in 
my  judgment  date  "back  to  the  first  century,  and 
they  are  substantially  by  the  authors  to  whom  they 
are  attributed." 

"Renan,  Strauss,  and  Baur  admit  the  main  facts 
in  the  life  of  Jesus,  except  the  miracles,  and  admit  on 
the  ground  that  the  testimony  is  credible." 

The  writings  of  the  apostles  contain  the  organic 
law  of  Christ's  kingdom.  These  Infidels  admit  they 
are  genuine,  and  acknowledge  their  credibility,  ex- 
cepting the  miracles.  Miracles  do  not  teach  moral 
principles  nor  give  to  us  a  rule  of  action  by  which  to 
regulate  the  life.  They  contain  no  instructions  for 
the  building  up  of  Christ's  kingdom. 

His  constitution  is  just  as  true  and  pure  in  its  pur- 
poses without  the  miracles  as  with  them.  Hence  the 
Infidel  admits  the  genuineness  and  credibility  of 
every  moral  principle  and  every  rule  of  action  taught 
in  the  constitution  of  the  government  of  Christ. 

What  an  absurd  position,  as  we  shall  try  to  show. 

Jesus  occupied  the  most  intimate  relation  to  His 
Apostles,  for  three  and  a  half  years.  He  told  them 
He  would  rise  from  the  dead. 

After  His  death,  and  while  His  works  and  His 
personal  appearance  were  fresh  in  the  mii;d-  of  all, 
the  Apostles  began  preaching  the  resurrection. 

ISbw  if  He  did  not  rise  they  knew  it ;  and  there 
was  no  possibility  of  deception  in  this  matter,  as  we 
have  seen  under  the  first  argument 


318 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


These  Infidels  say  the  story  of  the  resurrection  is 
not  trae ;  and  in  the  same  sentence  acknowledge  the 
credibility  of  the  witnesses  who  say  He  rose  from 
the  dead.  If  they  have  deceived  us  in  the  most  im- 
portant, how  shall  we  believe  them  in  minor  things  ? 
Is  a  witness  credible,  trustworthy,  if  he  deceive  you 
in  the  principal  thing  ?  May  not  other  statements  be 
improbable,  if  the  central  thought  is  untrue  ?  The 
man  who  lies,  just  where  he  ought  to  tell  the  truth, 
lies  all  the  time. 

It  is  useless  to  multiply  words.    The  admission  of 
these  distinguished  Infidels  removes  the  last  stone 
from  the  foundation  of  unbelief  in  the  Divinity  of 
Christ ;  and  the  wonderful  power  of  His  works,  and 
the  wisdom  of  His  teachings  are  accounted  for 

FIFTH  AEGTTMBNT. 

Christ  compared  with  other  great  men. 

The  Infidel  says,  Zoroaster,  Mahomet,  Confucius 
and  Buddha  had  more  followers  than  Christ." 

Therefore  they  taught  purer  morals,  and  were  men 
of  better  character  than  Christ  (?)  Is  this  the  conclu- 
sion ?  I  can  see  no  other  point  in  the  assertion. 

The  American  saloon  outnumbers  the  churches- 
Bacchus  has  more  votaries  than  Christ.  To  conclude, 
therefore,  that  the  moralty  of  the  dramshop  is  super- 
ior to  that  of  the  church,  and  the  character  of  the 
drunkard  better  than  that  of  Christ  would  be  just  as 
logical  a  conclusion. 

Let  us  not  look  at  the  numbers  that  rally  around 


WHAT  TilLNK.  YOU  OF  CHKIST  ? 


319 


the  standard  bearer,  but  rather  consider  their  works. 
Let  us  place  character  in  the  balance,  not  flesh  and 
blood,  and  see  which  will  be  found  wanting. 

Zoroaster,  the  Persian  philosopher  and  founder  of 
the  ancient  Persian  religion,  also  author  of  the  Zend 
Avesta,*'  was  born  about  1200  B.  C.  What  country 
has  his  doctrine  saved  ?  Is  Persia  redeemed  from 
superstition  and  political  thralldom  ? 

Almost  one- third  of  the  supposed  population  is 
made  up  of  nomadic  tribes  whose  home  is  wherever 
they  pitch  their  teuts.  The  better  class  is  prodigal 
and  rapacious.  The  Clergy  bigoted  and  intolerant. 
The  priests  are  a  licentious  multitude.  Trade  is  very 
limited,  and  transportation  is  by  caravans,  there  be- 
ing not  one  railroad  in  all  the  realm.  The  Shah 
does  not  know  the  number  of  his  subjects,  nor  the 
confines  of  his  kingdom — the  census  never  having 
been  taken,  nor  its  boundaries  surveyed. 

There  are  oidy  about  2,500  families  in  all  Persia 
who  are  Sun  worshippers,  or  followers  of  Zoroaster, 
the  great  mass  having  been  swallowed  up  by  Ma- 
homet's religion. 

History  being  the  judge,  Zoroaster,  with  1,200 
years  the  start  of  Christ,  has  barely  made  an  im- 
pression. It  took  less  than  200  years  for  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ  to  traverse  the  Roman  Empire. 

In  less  than  1,200  years  it  overran  all  Europe,  a 
large  part  of  Asia,  and  all  the  North  of  Africa. 

The  Gospel  of  Christ  survives  the  most  searching 
criticism.   The  keener  the  light  of  investigation,  the 

•The  Persian  Btbl*. 


320 


THE  10  W A  PULPIT. 


more  beauty  it  unfolds.  The  followers  of  Jesus  are 
numbered  by  the  millions,  while  those  of  Zoroaster 
are  fading  away  like  the  stars  of  the  morning. 

Confucius,  the  Chinese  philosopher,  was  born 
B.  C.  550.  His  motives  were  pure  and  his  labors 
productive  of  much  good.  He  was  too  honest  to 
pretend  to  be  divine  when  he  knew  he  was  not.  His 
teaching  was  limited  to  the  Celestial  Empire,  and 
was  strictly  confined  to  temporal  things. 

His  professed  followers  numbered  3,000.  He  trav- 
eled through  the  different  States  of  the  Empire,  hoping 
to  find  some  prince  who  would  make  him  Ids  advisor- 
in- chief,  and  initiate  a  govermnent  that  should  be- 
come the  "  center  of  universal  reformation." 

His  hopes  were  fruitless.  This,  in  brief,  is  the 
history  of  Confucius.  In  point  of  time,  he  had  more 
than  five  centuries  the  advantage  of  Jesus :  yet  when 
Jesus  came,  those  of  his  cotemporaries  who  were  his 
most  bitter  enemies,  did  not  dream  of  quoting  Con- 
fucius as  a  rival  of  Jesus. 

The  Chinese  philosopher  was,  and  is,  little  known 
except  by  his  own  nation. 

Jesus  is  known  by  all.  The  teachings  of  Con- 
fucius was  temporal — Christ's  both  temporal  and 
eternal. 

The  disciples  of  the  one  are  few,  and  found  only 
in  one  country ;  of  the  other,  like  the  sands  of  the 
sea  in  number,  and  the  sun  never  sets  upon  them. 
One  was  content  with  laboring  at  home,  the  other 
said,  go  into  all  the  world.  The  law  of  Christ  ii 
universal — that  of  Confucius  sectional 


WHAT  THINK  YOU  OF  CHRIST ! 


321 


The  majesty  of  the  life,  teaching,  and  influence  of 
Jesus  as  contrasted  with  that  of  Confucius,  is  as  the 
light  of  the  Sun  compared  to  that  of  the  glow  worm. 

The  history  of  Buddha  (if  there  ever  was  such  a 
person)  is  mythical.  He  was  a  leader  in  the  religion 
of  India,  and  flourished  about  500  B.  C. 

His  followers  sought  to  propitiate  the  favor  of  the 
gods  by  offering  human  sacrifices.  At  the  dawning 
of  the  Christian  era  this  religion  began  to  fade  away, 
and  now  there  is  not  a  Buddhist  in  all  India. 

This  low  and  groveling  idolatry  is  unfit  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  religion  of  Jesus. 

Mahomet  began  preaching  A.  D.  610.  He  raised 
a  standing  army,  and  compelled  men  to  become  his 
followers, 

He  too,  is  unworthy  to  be  associated  with  the 
world's  Reformer. 

The  infidel  talks  much  of  the  Vedas,*  and  of  the 
Zend  Avesta.  He  seems  to  have  great  reverence  for 
their  age,  and  much  praise  is  lavished  upon  their 
teachings.  I  once  heard  an  infidel  say,  "  The  Vedas 
is  older  than  your  Bible."  If  this  is  true,  and  its 
precepts  are  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  those  of  our 
Bible,  as  they  hold,  then  we  have  a  right  to  ask  for 
the  fruits. 

What  people  has  it  civilized?  From  what  land 
has  it  banished  Paganism?  How  far  is  it  known 
and  honored  ? 

Shame!  for  the  Yedas  and  Zend  Avesta.  Two 

and  three  thousand  years  older  than  Christianity, 
  21 

•  The  Hindoo  Bible. 


322 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


and  have  not  crossed  the  borders  of  their  own  native 
lands.  In  less  than  two  centuries  the  teaching  of  the 
New  Testament  conquered  the  world,  and  the  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus  send  it  to  the  land  of  the  Hindoos 
and  the  people  hail  it  with  joy  and  high  sounding 
praise. 

Wonderful  Vedas  (?)  Three  thousand  years  and 
more  thou  hast  lived  and  none  but  the  Hindoo  knows 
thee  save  as  history  reveals. 

Dear  Vedas  and  Zend  Avesta  (?)  Infidel  Gibral- 
tar !  But  where  are  thy  works  ?  Where  is  the  his- 
tory that  tells  of  thy  wondrous  power  ?  Where  are 
the  people  that  prize  thee  as  a  treasure  "  more  pre- 
cious than  rubies,  and  the  promises  thereof  than  fine 
gold?" 

Where  are  the  missionaries  who  are  ready  to  die 
rather  than  give  thee  up  ?  Thou  wert  born  in  pros- 
perity, and  cradled  in  the  lap  of  learning,  and  all 
the  astronomers  and  philosophers  were  thy  votaries, 
but  with  all  their  help,  where  are  thy  works  0! 
Vedas,  0  !  Zend  Avesta? 

The  precepts  of  the  New  Testament  have  sup- 
planted thee,  and  multitudes  of  India's  sons  and 
daughters  are  flocking  to  the  banner  of  the  lowly 
Nazarene. 

The  teachings  of  these  men  are  not  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  pure  morality  taught  by  the  Savior. 
It  fails  to  inspire  you  with  confidence.  It  does  not 
meet  the  deep  longings  of  frail  humanity. 

These  men  leave  you  upon  the  barren  plains  of 
gloom  and  doubt.     Jesus  translates  you  to  the 


WHAT  THLNK  YOU  OF  CHRIST? 


323 


grandest  bights,  where  the  tree  of  hope  flourishes  in 
the  soil  of  implicit  trust. 

They  did  not  transform  the  darkness  of  the  tomb 
into  a  glorious  halo  of  light.  May  we  not  conclude 
that  Jesus  did  ? 

"Whence  came  that  cherished  hope  that  you  will 
live  again,  beyond  this  life  ?  From  Confucius  ?  He 
did  not  speak  on  this  subject,  Jesus  did. 

Whose  Son  is  He  that  can  take  away  the  sting  of 
death,  and  give  new  luster  to  the  bow  of  promise  ? 
Was  he  the  son  of  man,  or,  the  Son  of  God  f 

In  the  conclusion  of  this  last  argument  can  we 
risk  an  answer  ? 

We  have  arraigned  Jesus  at  the  bar  of  public 
opinion,  and  tried  Him  in  the  court  of  His  enemies. 

Profane  history  has  added  its  testimony.  Not  a 
single  friend  has  been  permitted  to  testify.  The 
precious  cause  has  been  given  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemies  of  Jesu^,  and  we  are  satisfied.  Sitting  at 
the  feet  of  these  learned  skeptics  has  strengthened 
our  faith. 

We  view  the  sublimity  of  Christianity  from 
grander  hights  than  even  before.  We  can  descend 
further  into  the  unfathomable  depths  of  God's  love. 

The  past  appears  more  wonderful,  the  future  as 
clear  as  a  sun  beam. 

OONOLOSIOIT. 

A  few  words  by  way  of  review  and  we  rest 
We  began  with  the  morning  of  the  first  century. 
We  have  seen  Christianity  struggling  for  its  life. 


324 


THJi  IOWA  PULPIT. 


The  powers  of  the  earth  contesting  every  inch  of 
ground.  The  sword,  the  faggot,  the  rack,  the  prison — 
every  available  means  was  diligently  used  to  check 
the  growth  of  Messiah's  kingdom,  but  to  no  purpose. 

His  enemies  and  murderers  who  had  everything 
in  their  own  hands — even  to  His  body — did  not 
prove  that  He  was  still  in  the  grave. 

We  have  seen  the  Jewish  religion  which  was  nat- 
ional, and  fifteen  hundred  years  old,  give  way  to 
this  new  religion.  We  have  seen  Pagan  religions, 
hoary  with  age,  pale  before  the  blinding  light  of  the 
Star  of  Bethlehem.  We  were  surprised  when  we 
saw  Jesus  capture  Rome.  Astonished  when  he  tore 
down  the  Pantheon.  Awe  struck  when  he  razed  the 
Temple  to  its  very  foundation. 

We  have  seen  Jesus  breaking  up  long  established 
and  revered  customs,  and  enacting  new  and  better 
laws. 

Hardly  had  noon-tide  of  the  first  century  come 
when  Christianity  had  a  firm  foothold  in  the  Roman 
Empire. 

We  have  seen  Christianity  surviving  the  most 
bitter  persecutions,  the  edict  of  Kings  and  Emperors 
aimed  with  deadly  hate  at  its  leaders,  and  the  most 
bloody  revolutions ;  yet  its  author  and  finisher  was 
a  Galilean  peasant. 

His  only  weapon  was  His  word. 

We  have  seen  that  Christ's  power  and  influence 
was  more  potent  after  His  death  than  before. 

We  have  seen  that  He  had  no  wealth  or  position, 


WHAT  THLCfK  TOU  OF  CHRIST  f 


823 


and  yet  He  drew  the  attention  of  the  world  and  com- 
pelled its  potentates  to  acknowledge  His  authority. 

We  have  seen  Him  establish  His  government  and 
maintain  it  in  spite  of  every  opposing  force. 

We  have  looked  at  the  constitution  of  His  king- 
dom, and  found  it  unlike  any  other,  taking  the  p]ace 
of  others  in  spite  of  themselves. 

It  is  printed  in  almost  every  language  and  dialect 
and  read  by  every  people.  ■ 

We  have  heard  infidels  say,  the  Gospels  are  gen- 
uine and  credible,  and  tbat  the  sermon  on  the  mount 
will  never  be  surpassed. 

We  have  heard  Profane  Historians  confess  to  the 
goodness  and  simplicity  of  Christ's  teachings. 

We  have  seen  the  works  of  Christ  contrasted  with 
the  works  of  man,  and  we  find  that  Christ's  has 
grown  until  it  is  as  firmly  established  as  the  eternal 
hills,  while  that  of  man  has  proven  itself  to  be  of 
man,  for  it  has  gone  the  way  of  all  the  earth. 

We  have  seen  the  rising  glories  of  Christianity 
that  sure  precursor  of  the  golden  age  of  the  world. 

Finally  :  Is  this  all  the  work  of  man?  If  so,  let 
him  account  for  it  who  can.  Is  the  life  of  Christ— 
so  wonderful,  and  yet  so  simple— so  godlike,  and 
yet  so  human — is  it  an  invention  of  man  ?  There 
was  not  wisdom  enough  in  the  world,  all  combined, 
to  produce  the  sermon  on  the  Mount. 

If  Christ  is  not  divine,  the  man  who  invented  Him 
is  as  great  a  mystery  as  Christ.  Take  either 
dilemma  you  please  and  you  have  a  miracle  to  ac- 
count for. 


326 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


The  teaching  of  Christ,  whether  He  be  God's  Son 
or  not,  makes  every  man  who  obeys  Him,  a  better 
man. 

We  can  loose  nothing,  then  by  accepting  the  mir- 
acle on  the  safe  side.  And  now,  may  a  loving,  and 
beneficent  Father,  guide  the  reader  into  safe  paths, 
and  bless  this  humble  effort  to  put  aside  the  vail  of 
unbelief,  that  is  between  man  and  his  Savior — who 
is  The  Christ,  the  Son  qf  the  Living  God. 


E.  L.  POSTON. 


E.  L.  POSTON. 


HE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  In  Athens  County, 

Ohio,  April  9th,  1838.  His  parents  were  of  English- 
German  descent,  and  farmers  by  occupation. 

He  was  converted  and  united  with  the  Free  Will 
Baptist  church  in  1856.    He  attended  Tupper's  Plains 
Seminary, AthensCo.,  Ohio,  in  1862,  to  more  thorough- 
ly prepare  him  for  teaching,  in  which  he  had  been  engaged. 

On  the  12th  of  September,  of  the  same  year,  he  enlisted  in 
the  7th  Ohio  Cavalry,  and  served  in  the  army  till  the  close  of 
the  war,  during  which  time  he  was  twice  wounded. 

In  1865,  he  came  to  Iowa;  and  united  with  the  Church  of 
Christ,  at  Big  Springs,  Louisa  County,  in  the  autumn  of  1867. 

Began  preaching  in  1873;  his  first  field  of  labor  being  at  In- 
land, Cedar  County,  and  continuing  nearly  four  years.  When 
he  removed  to  Tiffin,  and  labored  for  the  churches  at  Tiffin, 
Frank  Pierce,  and  Marengo,  three  years. 

In  the  autumn  of  18/9,  he  removed  to  Oskaloosa,  to  attend 
school,  and  graduated  from  the  Bible  Department  in  1881. 
Since  then  he  has  preached  in  Jones,  and  Linn  counties,  and 
finally,  Harrison  County,  his  present  field  of  labor ;  his  time 
being  divided  between  Missouri  Valley,  Logan,  and  Woodbine. 
He  has  had  reasonable  success,  in  the  various  fields,  where  he 
has  labored,  especially  in  the  present  one. 

In  personal  appearance,  he  is  six  feet  two  and  one-half 
inches  in  height;  weighs  over  two  hundred  pounds;  fair  com- 
plexioned;  brown  hair,  and  dark  brown  eyes. 

As  a  speaker,  he  is  earnest,  and  emotional;  somewhat  in- 
clined to  weave  considerable  history  and  Scripture  into  his 
sermons.  As  a  worker,  he  is  industrious  and  cautious;  and 
his  splendid  physical  organization,  enables  him  to  endure  a 
large  amount  of  it. 


» 


PERSONAL  RESPONSIBILITY. 


BY  B.  L.  POSTON. 


•  *  Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve ;   •  •  •   as  for 

me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord. — Joshua  24 : 15. 

^^SrlE  fact  of  the  absence  of  a  deep  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility, is  a  very  great  detriment  to  the 
successful  proclamation  and  conquests  of 
the  gospel.  And  anything  conducing  to  the 
establishing  of  a  profound  regard  for  the 
obligation  incumbent  on  us,  will,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  redound  to  the  general  good.  It  is  therefore 
the  purpose  of  this  discourse,  to  contribute  to  the 
awakening  of  thought  on  this  question. 

Responsibility  is  treated  as  the  equivalent  of  ac- 
countability, i.  e. "  the  state  of  being  responsible, 
accountable,  or  answerable." — Webster :  and  is  con- 
sidered with  regard  to  (1)  its  positive  existence,  (2) 
its  source,  (3)  its  measure,  and  (4)  its  duration. 

I.  The  fact  of  responsibility  is  proclaimed  from 
every  department  of  life.  Human  government  rests 
upon  it;  society  could  not,  and  would  not  exist 
without  it ;  commerce  in  all  its  details  depends  upon 
it.  It  is  the  safeguard  of  country,  society,  home, 
confidence,  and  even  1  i  fe,  both  physical  and  spiritual : 
insomuch  that,  to  ignore  it,  is  to  forfeit  all.  These 


330 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


considerations  are  so  universally  admitted,  and  self- 
evident,  that  it  is  needless  to  further  elaborate  the 
thought  of  its  positive  existence,  and  hence  we  pro- 
ceed at  once  to  notice, 

II.  Its  Source.  The  source  often  determines  the 
character  of  a  thing.  For  instance,  the  source  of  a 
stream — if  it  be  an  unfailing  spring,  the  stream  will 
be  perpetual,  otherwise  it  will  dry  up ;  if  it  be  bit- 
ter, the  stream  will  be  bitter.  If  rumor  came  from 
a  reliable  source,  its  character  on  that  account  is 
more  reliable,  than  if  it  were  otherwise.  So  with 
responsibility,  if  its  source  is  insignificant,  itself  is 
of  no  particular  consequence,  but  if  it  be  of  royal 
birth,  its  lordly  character  demands  our  regard. 

1.  It  originates  in  creation.  If  God  created  man, 
He  has  the  undisputed  right  to  govern  him ;  and  if 
He  exercises  that  right,  man  is  therefore  responsible. 
The  Savior  said,  "  While  ye  are  in  the  light,  walk 
in  the  light."  We  are  in  the  light  of  Nature,  which 
declares  that,  the  universe  did  not  create  itself.  It 
could  not  impress  order,  or  law  upon  itself.  When 
we  see  a  piece  of  beautifully  constructed  machinery, 
in  splendid  working  order,  and  doing  its  work  with 
precision,  we  say  there  was  an  intelligent  and  skilled 
hand  that  constructed  it,  endowing  every  part  with 
its  share  of  the  work  of  the  machine.  So  in  this 
case,  the  exact  order  and  skill  displayed  everywhere 
in  nature,  proclaim  an  Intelligent  Creator,  to  whom 
all  things  point  as  their  source,  and  must  answer  for 
the  various  parts  they  perform,  in  discharge  of  their 
obligation. 


PERSONAL  RESPONSIBILITY. 


831 


The  poet  has  said,  of  the  stars, 

"  Forever  singing  as  they  shine, 
The  hand  that  made  me  is  divine." 

And  Paul  teaches  that  responsibility  sustains  a 
relation  to  creation,  viz.:  "Because  that  which 
may  be  known  of  God,  is  manifest  in  them,  for  He 
has  shown  it  to  them.  For  the  invisible  things  of 
Him  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen, 
being  understood  by  the  things  that  are  made  *  *  * 
so  tJiey  are  without  excuse"  (Rom.  1 : 19,  20).  Else- 
where he  says,  "All  things  were  created  by 
Him  and  for  Him"  (Col.  1 : 16).  "All  things  "  most 
assuredly  includes  all  persons ;  and  as  therefore  all 
persons  are  made  for  Him,  out  of  their  very  creation 
comes  their  responsibility. 

2.  It  arises  because  of  knowledge. 

"  To  him  that  knoweth  to  do  good,  and  doeth  it 
not,  to  him  it  is  sin"  (Jas.  4 : 17).  "  If  ye  know 
these  thing  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them"  (John  1 3 : 
17).  "  If  ye  were  blind,  you  would  not  have  sin,  but 
you  say  we  see,  therefore  your  sin  remaineth." 
"  And  that  servant  which  knew  His  Lord's  will,  and 
did  it  not,  shall  be  beaten  with  many  strips."  "If 
I  had  not  spoken  unto  them  they  had  not  had  sin ; 
but  now  they  have  no  cloak  for  their  sin"  (John 
15 : 22). 

These  statements  indicate  the  teaching  of  Scripture 
beyond  doubt.  And  all  human  experience  attests  the 
same  thing.    The  more  knowledge  we  possess,  the 


332 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


greater  our  responsibility.  Any  knowledge  then  in- 
dicates some  responsibility. 

To  illustrate :  two  prisoners  are  charged  with  the 
crime  of  arson ;  one  is  a  very  intelligent  man,  the 
other  very  ignorant.  Both  are  proven  guilty.  One 
is  sentenced  to  three  years  at  hard  labor,  and  the 
other  but  one.  Now  the  question  is  raised,  On  what 
ground  is  this  difference  in  the  punishment  of  the 
two  men  based?  Evidently  on  the  ground  of  differ- 
ence in  knowledge.  The  greater  knowledge,  the 
greater  the  guilt,  and  therefore  the  heavier  the  re- 
sponsibility. So  God  says,  "  Unto  whom  much  is 
given,  much  is  required  "  (Luke  12 : 48).  But  to  guard 
against  error  here,  let  it  be  noticed  that,  opportunity 
to  know  is  equivalent  to  actual  knowledge,  in  the  na- 
ture of  responsibility.  The  laws  of  our  country  are 
passed  and  published  for  the  information  of  the 
people,  and  he  is  not  held  guiltless  who  violates  it 
thereafter  in  ignorance  of  its  demands. 

So  God  removes  all  excuse  for  ignorance  by  send- 
ing the  Gospel  into  all  the  earth.  Before  this  was 
done  He  passed  by  the  idolatries  of  the  heathen, 
"  but  now  He  commands  all  men  everywhere  to  re- 
pent "(Acts  17:30).  He  has  made  provision  for 
their  information,  giving  "  unto  us  all  things  that 
pertain  to  life  and  godliness,  through  the  knowledge 
of  Him  who  hath  called  us  to  virtue  and  glory " 
(2  Pet.  1:3). 

It  is  our  duty  to  "  search  the  Scriptures ;"  to  "take 
the  more  earnest  heed  unto  the  things  we  have 
heard,"  lest  the  sin  of  ignorance  be  added  to  our 


PERSONAL  RESPONSIBILITY. 


333 


other  transgressions.  A  question  of  such  propor- 
tions as  that  of  our  eternal  salvation,  demands  our 
closest  attention,  and  most  serious  thought ;  and  it 
is  criminal  to  neglect  it. 

3.  Responsibility  arises  from  the  fact  of  our  re- 
demption. If  one  is  hopelessly  enslaved,  if  his  life 
and  liberty  are  forfeited,  his  responsibility  is  simply 
measured  by  the  will  of  his  master.  If  he  is  redeemed 
from  that  master,  it  is  in  the  nature  of  things,  but  a 
transfer  of  ownership — a  change  of  masters.  It  re- 
lieves him  not  of  responsibility.  It  only  makes  him 
responsible  to  another  master.  So  in  this  case,  man 
is  hopelessly  doomed  to  death,  under  the  mastery  of 
sin.  "He  had  sold  himself  for  naught"  (Isa.  52  :  3). 
But  Jesus,  desiring  man's  service,  bought  him — re- 
deemed him,  saved  him.  His  energies  were  due  to 
his  former  master,  but  now  they  belong  to  his  new- 
master — his  Redeemer.  There  is  simply  a  transfer 
from  one  master  to  another.  It  is  not  a  freedom 
from  responsibility,  but  freedom  from  a  hard  ser- 
vice and  a  sad  destiny,  with  his  responsibility  ri\ 
eted  tightly  upon  him.  Under  the  former  master  he 
was  compelled  to  meet  his  responsibility ;  under  his 
Redeemer  he  meets  it  cheerfully  from  gratitude. 

4.  Influence  creates  responsibility.  That  we  wield 
an  influence  for  good  or  evil,  none  can  successfully 
deny.  It  either  pulls  down  or  builds  up,  causes 
pain  or  pleasure,  peace  or  strife.  Influence !  That 
subtle  thing,  like  the  little  stream  away  up  in  the 
hills,  it  runs  on  and  on ;  uniting  here  with  this  and 
there  with  that,  till  it  loses  its  identity  in  the  great 


334 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


home  of  the  waters.  So  influence  moves  upon  thought 
and  will,  hearing  them  forward  in  its  pathway, 
gathering  force  here  and  there,  till  the  great  crush  of 
wretchedness  is  reached;  or  on  the  other  hand,  when 
"  they  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their  works  follow 
them." 

Think  of  this,  dear  reader,  and  remember  that  your 
influence  is  silently  yet  surely  working  for  the  good 
or  ill  of  others,  who  will  either  sink  with  Satan,  to 
death  and  destruction,  shut  out  from  God  and  the 
home  of  loved  ones  forever;  or  will  rise  to  joys 
unspeakable  into  the  paradise  of  the  heavens.  Did 
you  ever  think  how  far  the  salvation  of  your  husband, 
your  wife,  your  brother,  your  sister,  your  children, 
your  parents,  your  neighbors,  depends  upon  your 
influence?  What  a  fearful  responsibility  is  here! 
"Wonderful ;  equaled  only  by  the  wonders  of  that 
which  we  call  influence,  and  is  exerted  by  us, 
whether  we  will  it  or  not. 

5.  The  power  of  choice  determines  responsibility. 
We  are  conscious  of  ability  to  choose  either  good  or 
evil.  Men  do  choose  the  evil  and  therefore  can.  Do 
they  do  wrong  in  so  doing  ?  If  not,  then  they  are  not 
responsible  for  the  choice  they  make.  But  when 
God  says,  "  Choose  ye  this  day  whom. ye  will  serve," 
it  is  implied  that  He  held  them  responsible  for  the 
choice  they  would  make.  And  while  they  have  the 
power  to  choose  the  wrong,  they  did  not  have  the 
rigid  to  do  so  The  power  to  choose,  and  the  right 
to  choose  are  very  different  things.  The  power  to 
steal,  lie,  swear,  and  kill  does  not  argue  the  right  to 


PERSONAL  REBPONSI BUJTT.  885 


do  these  things.  He  is  a  "free  agent"  in  the  mean- 
ing of  power,  but  not  in  that  of  right.  Responsibility 
to  God  modifies  his  personal  freedom,  but  not  his 
power  and  therefore  rests  on  its  natural  foundation, 

ability. 

If  it  be  argued  that  personal  responsibility  in- 
fringes the  freedom  of  the  will,  and  hence  the  power 
of  choice ;  we  reply  that  it  is  no  less  true  of  God's 
government  than  it  is  of  human  government,  and  is 
therefore  destructive  of  human  liberty!  But  we 
know  that  human  liberty  is  secured  by  imposing  a 
responsibility  on  the  governed.  But  it  may  be  said 
that  we  are  in  the  world  by  no  choice  of  our  own;  sub- 
jected to  law  enacted  without  consulting  our  wishes, 
and  hence  it  is  not  just  that  we  should  be  required 
to  keep  it.  If  that  is  good  reasoning  in  regard  to 
God's  government,  it  is  in  reference  to  human  gov- 
ernment. But  do  we  make  an  exception  in  the  jur- 
isdiction of  our  laws,  every  time  a  child  is  born  or 
an  emigrant  arrives  ?  Are  they  not  expected  to  obey 
the  same  laws  we  do  ?  Yes.  Does  this  seem  un- 
just? Is  there  any  opposition  to  this  anywhere? 
Is  anybody  dissatisfied  about  it?  No.  Then  this 
objection  falls  before  the  onward  march  of  our  sub- 
ject. But  as  an  off-set  to  this  objection  let  it  be  re- 
membered, that  not  only  does  man  make  laws  for 
his  descendants,  and  justly  holds  them  responsible 
to  it  in  order  to  enjoy  its  blessings ;  but  God  has 
done  the  same.  The  laws  of  heat  and  cold,  hunger 
and  thirst,  sowing  and  reaping,  life  and  death  were 
all  before  man,  and  he  has  learned,  to  his  sorrow 


336 


THE  IOWA  PIJLPIT. 


sometimes,  that  Tie  is  responsible.  The  cases  of 
Adam,  Cain,  Antediluvians,  Uzzah,  David,  any  many 
others,  abundantly  verify  this.  Moses  disobeyed 
at  the  rock  Mirabah  and  failed  to  enter  Canaan,  and 
yet  he  was  the  meekes  t  of  men.  Saul,  the  first  king  of 
Israel,  learned  that  his  power  to  choose  did  not  give 
him  the  right  to  disobey  God  in  reference  to  the 
Amalekites,  hence, 

6.  The  co/zi  oiaudments  of  God  are  a  source  of 
responsibility. 

Saul  was  under  no  obligation  to  slay  the  Amale- 
kites, until  ordered  to  do  so.  But  after  being  com- 
manded he  was  held  responsible  for  everything  cov- 
ered by  the  commandment  (1  Samuel  15:13,  14, 
22,  23). 

Again,  take  the  case  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  a  char- 
acter both  in  Profane  and  Sacred  History.  While 
there  may  not  be  any  verbal  commandment  to  which 
he  was  answerable,  yet  the  voice  of  God,  uttered 
throughout  His  realm,  clearly  forbade  his  pride,  ar- 
rogance, blasphemy,  corruption  and  tyranny.  His 
achievements  were  great.  He  builded  and  ruled 
the  grandest  city  in  the  world.  It  was  for  the  glory 
of  7/  is  kingdom,  not  God.  He  declared  that  it  was 
of  his  own  wisdom  Babylon  was  built.  He  confessed 
no  responsibilities  to  heaven  or  earth.  He  consid- 
ered the  world  responsible  to  him  and  made  his  de- 
mands accordingly.  But  God's  hand  was  laid  heav- 
ily upon  him ;  he  was  humbled  in  body  and  mind, 
and  by  him  it  is  taught  that  men,  great  or  small, 
high  or  low,  axe  held  responsible  to  the  Creator  of  all 


PERSONAL  RESPONSIBILITY.  837 


The  story  runs :  "  At  the  end  of  twelve  months, 
he  walked  in  the  palace  of  the  kingdom  of  Babylon. 
The  king  spake  and  said,  is  not  this  great  Babylon 
that  I  have  built  for  the  house  of  the  kingdom,  by 
the  might  of  my  power,  and  for  the  honor  of  my 
majesty  ?  While  the  word  was  in  the  king's  mouth 
there  fell  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying :  '  0,  king 
Nebuchadnezzar,  to  thee  it  is  spoken.  The  king- 
dom is  departed  from  thee.  And  they  shall  drive 
thee  from  men,  and  thy  dwelling  shall  be  with  the 
beast  of  the  field ;  they  shall  make  thee  to  eat  grass 
like  oxen,  and  seven  times  shall  pass  over  thee,  un- 
til thou  know  that  the  Most  High  ruleth  in  the  king- 
dom of  men,  and  giveth  it  to  whomsoever  He  will. 
The  same  hour  was  the  thing  fulfilled  upon  Nebuch- 
nezzar"  (Dan.  4 : 29,  33). 

Thus  we  see  that  God  enforces  responsibility  by 
the  terrors  of  judgment  inflicted  upon  the  disobe- 
dient. 

Annanias  and  Sapphira  furnish  another  illustra- 
tion. They  felt  their  responsibility,  but  being  cove- 
tous, they  wished  to  meet  it  in  appearance  only. 
This  necessitated  a  falsehood  which  God^  has  for- 
bidden. God  holds  all  liars  responsible  to  Him  for 
their  lying,  whether  men  bring  us  to  judgment  or 
not.  And  Annanias  and  Sapphira  were  instantly 
hurled  into  death  for  disobeying  God's  command. 
And  by  that  fact  God  says  to  you  and  me,  "  I  hold 
you  responsible  to  me  for  your  conduct"  (See  Acts 
5  th  chapter). 
22 


338 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


This  history  verifies  the  statement  "Though 
joined  hand  in  hand  the  wicked  shall  not  go  unpun- 
ished," nor  evade  responsibilty. 

But  again  take  the  case  of  the  rich  man  and  Laz- 
arus. This  rich  man  was  clothed  in  purple  and  fine 
linen,  and  fared  sumptuously  every  day.  Lazarus 
was  poor  and  needy.  Little  did  the  rich  man  re- 
gard that  he  was  in  any  way  responsible  for  the  suf- 
fering of  the  poor  beggar.  He  might  have  pitied  the 
poor  wretch,  if  he  saw  him  at  all,  without  feeling 
under  any  obligation  to  do  anything  for  him.  But 
in  the  sequel,  when  he  passes  over  to  the  other  side 
he  is  called  to  account,  and  made  to  weep  in  a  hope- 
less condition,  for  not  having  done  the  will  of  God 
concerning  the  poor  man.  Ah,  responsibility  is 
upon  us.  We  cannot  live  void  of  it.  It  is  as  omni- 
present as  God. 

HI.  Its  Measure.  The  fact  and  source  of  re- 
sponsibility being  made  out,  we  next  raise  the 
question,  What  is  the  measure  of  it,  to  what  extent 
does  it  go  ?  Is  there  any  way  to  determine  this  mat- 
ter? We  answer  yes.  Like  everything  else,  re- 
sponsibility can  be  measured  and  its  limits  ascer- 
tained. Our  responsibility  for  the  performance  of 
any  work  is  determined. 

1.  First  by  our  ability  to  do  it.  Man  is  consid- 
ered blameable,  who  being  able,  neglects  to  pay  his 
debts ;  but  he  who  meets  with  misfortune  and  can- 
not pay,  society  excuses.  The  man  also  who  has 
$10,000  worth  of  property  is  held  responsible  for  ten 
times  as  much  taxes  as  he  who  owns  but  $1,000.  And 


PERSONAL  RESPONSIBILITY. 


339 


in  Scripture  the  men  with  talents  "  according  to  their 
several  ability,"'  were  responsible  in  proportion  to 
their  talents.  The  one  with  ten  talents  was  ten 
times  richer  than  the  one  with  only  a  talent,  and 
therefore  his  responsibility  was  ten  times  greater. 

Again,  we  are  told,  "It  is  accepted  according  to 
what  a  man  hath;  and  not  according  to  what  he 
hath  not"  (2  Cor.  8 : 12). 

Now  ability  to  do  good  in  society  consists  of 
knowledge,  earthly  possessions  and  virtue.  If  we 
know  the  better  way  we  must  impart  that  knowl- 
edge to  those  who  are  ignorant,  or  suffer  the  same 
disaster  that  comes  upon  them  through -ignorance. 
If  we  are  possessed  of  earthly  treasures,  we  are  able 
thereby  to  lessen  the  suffering  of  the  unfortunate; 
and  are  responsible  for  the  amount  of  suffering  we 
are  able  to  extinguish.  And  if  by  our  example,  we 
can  lessen  vice,  we  are  responsible  for  the  existence 
of  so  much  vice  as  would  be  prevented,  did  we  but 
set  the  example  of  virtue. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  responsibility  is  measured 
by  the  opportunities  we  have.  Both  ability  and  op- 
portunity must  be  taken  together,  to  accurately 
measure  it.  We  may  have  ever  so  much  ability, 
but  if  we  have  no  opportunity  to  use  it,  we  are  not 
responsible.  Or  we  may  have  opportunity,  privi- 
lege, and  no  ability,  and  the  result  is  the  same; 
save  where  our  lack  of  ability  is  our  own  fault,  as 
noticed  before  in  this  sermon. 

Let  us  then  consider  the  opportunities  that  sur- 
round us,  in  search  of  the  extent  of  our  responsibility. 


340 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


First  then,  as  Christian  people  we  occupy  an 
eminence  in  the  world,  which  commands  its  respect. 
Our  homes  are  in  the  greatest  government  on  earth, 
whose  citizens  arc  welcomed  to  every  land  on  the 
globe.  This  fact  affords  the  finest  opportunity  for 
foreign  missionary  work  Christians  have  ever  en- 
joyed. 

Again,  the  popularity  of  Christianity,  as  shown 
by  the  685,000,000  of  people  in  the  world,  Avho  en- 
dorse it,  presents  an  opportunity  to  successfully 
preach  it,  that  no  excuse  can  be  offered  on  that  score. 
Moreover  the  increase  of  general  intelligence,  by 
which  the  work  of  teaching  Christianity  is  shortened ; 
•the  presence  of  the  Bible  translated  into  all  lan- 
guages ;  a  partial  knowledge  of  its  teaching  already 
received,  opens  an  opportunity  for  the  spread  of  the 
gospel,  unequaled  in  any  preceding  age,  since  its 
introduction  into  the  world. 

A  better  insight  into  a  proper  division  of  the  word 
of  truth,  by  which  we  are  enabled  to  distinguish 
between  the  different  dispensations  of  God's  govern- 
ment ;  the  discovery  of  lost  manuscripts ;  the  fulfill- 
ment of  prophecies;  the  widespread  study  of  the 
Scriptures ;  the  willingness  of  men  and  women  to  be 
teachers,  and  their  children  to  be  learners  in  the 
thousands  of  Sunday-schools ;  the  reaction  from  In 
fidelity,  by  which  the  public  mind  turns  toward  the 
Bible ;  the  rapidity  of  travel,  by  which  missionary 
fields  can  be  quickly  reached ;  the  press,  by  which 
papers,  books  and  tracts  can  be  circulated  by  the 
million,  and  the  vast  amount  of  means  under  the 


PERSONAL  RESPONSIBILITY. 


841 


control  of  Christians,  present  snch  opportunities, 
that  our  responsibility  is  immensely  great.  We  can 
work  at  home  and  abroad ;  in  the  family,  the  church, 
and  in  the  Sunday-school.  "We  are  responsible  for  the 
condition  of  things  now,  and  God  will  call  us  to  ac- 
count. Reader,  are  you  ready  ?  Take  this  measure — 
ability  and  opportunity — map  out  the  limits  of  your 
responsibility,  and  may  God  help  you  to  meet  it 
bravely,  and  lovingly. 

IV.  Its  Duration.  When  will  our  responsibility 
end?  How  long  will  it  last?  A  few  words  in  answer, 
and  we  will  close.  A  child  is  responsible  to  its  par- 
ents till  its  majority.  An  officer  to  the  government 
till  expiration  of  his  term  of  office,  to  which  elected. 
Indeed,  where  duty  is  enjoined,  we  are  responsible 
in  every  department  of  life,  till  the  duty  is  performed. 
This  is  likewise  true  in  the  way  of  God.  Jesus  says, 
"I  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that  sent  me,  while 
it  is  day."  His  responsibility  continued  with  the 
"day,"  which  means  during  life  (John  9:4;  Eccl. 
9:10;  Heb.  9:27). 

"Live  soberly,  righteously  and  godly  in  this  pres- 
ent world,"  teaches  clearly  the  duration  of  our  obli- 
gation. "  Be  thou  faithful  until  deatli"  etc.  (Rev. 
2: 10).  These,  with  many  other  passages,  settle  the 
question  of  duration.  We  hear  of  men  retiring  from 
business;  resigning  office,  and  surrendering  their 
responsibilities  therein,  and  living  thereafter  in  ease 
and  retirement.  This  is  perhaps  possible  in  some 
of  the  affairs  of  men,  but  not  in  the  service  of  God. 
The  duty  committed  to  us,  recpiires  a  lifetime  for  its 


342 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


performance,  whether  it  he  long  or  short.    Then  let 

ns  come  up  manfully  and  nobly  to  the  full  measure 
of  our  obligation,  continuing  therein,  till  the  sum- 
mons of  death  shall  relieve  us,  and  we  pass  to  our 
rest.  And  may  God  add  His  blessing  to  our  feeble 
efforts ;  and  in  the  last  Great  Day,  may  we  all  be 
admitted  into  the  realm  of  eternal  bliss  at  His  right 
hand  I  Amen. 


H.  A.  NORTHCUTT. 


H.  A.  NORTHCTJTT, 


EW  preachers  have  made  a  more  satisfactory  record  as 
a  revivalist  than  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Though 
nominally  residing  in  Missouri,  for  several  years  past, 
his  principal  field  of  labor  has  been  in  Iowa,  where  his 
labors  have  been  remarkably  successful.  In  Bloomfield 
alone  he  has  held  three  protracted  meetings,  in  addi- 
tion to  regular  work,  aggregating  over  200  additions.  Oska- 
loosa,  Altoona,  Cedar  Rapids  and  West  Liberty  have  received 
over  200  accessions  through  his  labors. 

He  was  born  in  Ralls  County,  Missouri,  near  Hannibal,  Nov- 
ember 13, 1843.  Joined  the  Christian  church  in  Millport,  Knox 
County,  Missouri,  when  ten  years  of  age.  Was  elected  elder  at 
twenty-one,  and  ordained  by  the  same  congregation  to  preach, 
March  16, 1871,  where  he  still  holds  his  membership.  His  father 
is  a  preacher  of  thirty  years  standing. 

In  personal  appearance,  he  is  about  five  feet  eight  inches  in 
height;  weighs  about  150  pounds;  black  hair,  showing  a  little 
gray;  with  dark  soft  eyes  that  fitly  express  the  warmth  of 
his  overflowing  heart,  when  in  discourse.  1 

In  sermonizing,  he  lays  no  claim  to  homiletics,  or  even  great 
accuracy  in  quotations.  He  cares  not  for  poetic  fancy,  nor 
scholastic  phraseology,  but  makes  his  appeal  direct  to  the 
heart,  which  he  seldom  fails  to  arouse.  He  sings  with  fervor 
of  soul,  and  well ;  prays  in  childish  simplicity,  and  breathes 
such  a  spirit  of  trust  all  the  time,  as  leads  all  within  the 
circle  of  his  influence,  to  gather  with  him,  into  closer  com- 
munion with  God. 

818 


WHY  MUST  CHRIST  DIE? 


BY  H.  A.  NORTHOUTT. 


For  Christ  also  hath  once  suffered  for  sins,  the  just  for  the 
unjust,  that  he  might  bring  us  to  God. — 1  Peter  3  :  18. 

gHE  history  of  Christ  from  His  birth  in  Beth- 
lehem to  His  ascension  from  Mt.  Olivet,  is 
full  of  deep  and  thrilling  interest  to  us  and 
to  all  the  sons  of  men.  We  hang  upon 
every  word,  look  and  act  of  His  with  intense 
feeling,  wondering  what  will  be  the  next. 

He  was  ushered  into  this  world  amid  the  singing 
of  angels  whose  song  has  become  the  chorus  of 
every  land  and  is  destined  to  be  sung  by  every 
tongue.  Such  a  demonstration  never  hailed  the 
birth  of  any  other  being. 

He  lived  a  life  unparalleled  in  the  history  of 
man.  Infidels  may  try  to  explain  away  His  mira- 
cles, and  succeed  in  doing  so  to  their  own  satisfac- 
tion, but  they  have  ever  failed  to  account  for  the 
purity  of  His  life.  They  dare  not  offer  a  criticism 
on  His  life.  The  greatest  miracle  this  world  has 
ever  known  is  the  perfect  life  of  Christ. 

He  expired  amid  the  most  awful  and  sublime 
phenomena  ever  known.   This  earth,  which  had 

346 


346 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


moved  steadily  on  for  four  thousand  years,  trembled 
from  center  to  circumference  when  the  cross  to 
which  He  was  nailed  was  uplifted ;  the  rocks  let  go 
and  fell  apart.  All  nature  felt  the  shock.  The 
king  of  day  veiled  his  face  and  refused  to  look  upon 
the  scene.  Oh,  what  a  tragedy  to  stir  the  soul? 
The  earth  was  the  theatre,  wicked  men  the  players, 
the  Marys  of  earth  and  angels  of  heaven  the 
lookers  on. 

But  why  must  Christ  die? 

1.  To  fulfill  the  prophecies. 

In  the  Old  Testament  there  is  a  long  chain  of 
prophecies  reaching  through  a  period  of  four  thous- 
and years,  and  fulfilled  at  His  death.  His  whole 
life  as  well  as  His  death  was  a  fulfillment  of  proph- 
ecy. In  every  path  He  trod,  every  home  He  visited, 
every  city  He  entered ;  on  tree  and  house  and  street 
might  have  "been  truthfully  placed  the  words : 
"Thus  it  is  written."  He  was  Job's  Living  Re- 
deemer," Malachi's  "Sun  of  Righteousness,"  and 
Isaiah  saw  Him  "  as  a  lamb  led  to  the  slaughter." 
Isaiah  prophesied  further :  "  As  a  sheep  before  her 
shearers  is  dumb,  so  opened  He  not  His  mouth.  He 
was  cut  off  from  the  land  of  the  living.  He  made 
His  grave  with  the  wicked  and  with  the  rich  in  His 
death :  because  He  had  done  no  violence,  neither 
was  any  deceit  in  His  mouth."  See  Him  on  the 
cross,  lamb-like  dying  without  a  murmur. 

Anything  short  of  His  death  would  not  have  sat- 
isfied the  Old  Testament :  hence,  the  necessity  of 
His  death. 


WHY  MUST  CHRIST  DIE? 


847 


2.  Christ  must  die  to  make  binding  His  testa- 
ment. 

While  Christ  was  on  earth  He  made  a  will  be- 
queathing upon  certain  conditions,  an  inheritance 
to  the  sons  and  daughters  of  men.  That  will  was 
not  of  force  while  He  yet  lived :  as  Paul  says  in 
Heb.  9:  16,17,  '-For  where  a  testament  is,  there 
must  also  of  necessity  be  the  death  of  the  testator. 
For  a  testament  is  of  force  after  men  are  dead; 
otherwise  it  is  of  no  strength  at  all  while  the  testa- 
tor liveth." 

While  Christ  was  upon  earth  and  before  His 
death  He  could  say  to  the  penitent,  "  Thy  sins  be 
forgiven  thee,"  and  to  the  thief  on  the  cross,  "To-day 
shaft  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise."  But  since  His 
death  no  man  need  expect  the  forgiveness  of  sins, 
or  an  inheritance  among  the  sanctified,  except  in 
obedience  to  His  will.  "  Whosoever  heareth  these 
sayings  of  mine  and  doeth  them,  I  will  liken  him 
unto  a  wise  man  who  built  his  house  upon  a  rock," 
etc.  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be 
saved."  "  Blessed  are  they  that  do  His  command- 
ments that  they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life 
and  may  enter  in  through  the  gates  unto  the  city." 

Oh,  for  a  spirit  of  obedience  among  the  people ! 
Sinner,  arise  and  come  to  Jesus.  Stretch  out  your 
trembling  hand,  take  hold  of  His  and  cling  to  it 
until  you  pass  in  through  the  pearly  gates  and  stand 
before  the  great  white  throne  and  listen  to  your 
Father  say:  "Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful 
servant." 


348 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


3.  He  died  that  repentance  and  i  emission  of  sins 
should  be  preached  in  His  name.  See  Luke  24 :  46, 
47.  "  Thus  it  is  written  and  thus  it  behooved  Christ 
to  suffer  and  to  rise  from  the  dead  the  third  day : 
that  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  should  be 
preached  in  His  name  among  all  nations  beginning 
at  Jerusalem."  Without  His  death  there  could 
have  been  no  forgiveness  of  sins.  All  the  blood 
shed  upon  Jewish  altars  could  not  atone  for  sin. 
Hence,  Christ  must  die  and  His  blood  find  its  way 
back  to  the  first  penitent  this  side  of  Eden's  gate 
and  follow  on  until  the  last  penitent  this  side  of 
eternity  shall  be  forgiven.  Thank  God  for  the  death 
of  His  Son ! 

"Were  all  the  realms  of  nature  mine, 
This  were  a  gift  by  far  too  small; 
Such  love,  amazing,  so  divine, 
Demands  my  soul,  my  life,  my  all." 

4.  Christ  died  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  descent 
of  the  Holy  Spirit 

"  Nevertheless,  I  tell  you  the  truth.  It  is  expedi- 
ent for  you  that  I  go  away :  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the 
Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you ;  but  if  I  depart,  I 
will  send  him  unto  you"  (John  16 : 7). — See  also  John 
7:39. 

"  But  this  spake  he  of  the  Spirit  which  they  that 
believe  on  him  should  receive :  for  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  not  yet  given,  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet 
llorified."  Jesus  said  to  His  disciples  just  before 
He  left  them,  "  I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless,  I 


WHY  MUST  CHRIST  DIB? 


849 


will  come  again,"  (John  14: 18).  Are  we  to  under 
stand  from  the  passages  just  cited  that  the  Hoi} 
Spirit  had  never  been  sent  to  any  person  or  persons  ? 

We  have  always  believed  that  such  men  as  Moses. 
Job,  Isaiah  and  Daniel  had  the  Holy  Spirit ;  also 
John,  the  Harbinger,  who  said,  "  Behold  the  Lamb 
of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 
The  seventy  who  were  sent  out,  at  whose  approach 
the  devils  trembled,  the  twelve  to  whom  power  was 
given  to  heal  the  sick  and  work  various  kinds  of 
miracles — all  these  did  their  wonderful  works  before 
Christ  ascended.  How  can  this  be  reconciled  with 
the  Scripture  referred  to?  The  Holy  Spirit  was 
given  to  persons  before  Christ's  ascension  for  one 
purpose,  and  to  persons  after  His  ascension  for 
another  purpose.  The  work,  or  office  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  before  His  ascension  was  to  enable  persons  to 
work  miracles  and  foretell  future  events,  which 
power  ceased  with  the  Apostles  and  their  co-labor- 
ers. Now  Christians  receive  it  as  a  comforter. 
Thank  God  we  have  such  a  comforter. 

It  is  better  for  us  to  have  the  Holy  Spirit  in  us 
than  to  have  it  among  us  as  it  once  was.  Methinks 
it  is  better  for  us  to  have  this  comforter,  than  to  have 
Christ  dwelling  upon  earth  as  He  once  did.  Sup- 
pose He  were  here  as  He  was  once,  how  few  would 
in  a  lifetime  be  permitted  to  see  Him  or  hear  His 
gentle  voice.  Even  when  He  was  here  in  the  narrow 
strip  of  the  world  in  which  His  mighty  works  were 
performed,  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  He  could 
be  approached.    See  Zacheus  climbing  a  tree  in 


360 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


order  to  see  Him,  and  the  poor,  sinful  woman  who 
cried  after  Him  for  hours  saying:  "If  lean  but 
touch  the  hem  of  His  garment,  I  shall  be  made 
whole." 

Having  the  Holy  Spirit  as  a  comforter,  Christ  is 
with  us  all  the  time.  Wherever  there  is  a  child  of 
God  there  is  the  Spirit  of  God.  In  the  crowded  city, 
in  the  lonely  desert,  "  at  home  or  abroad  "  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  ever  with  us. 

How  may  this  Holy  Spirit  be  received  and  en- 
joyed? By  obeying  the  commandments  of  Christ. 
'  If  ye  love  me,  keep  my  commandments ;  and  I  will 
pray  the  Father  and  He  shall  give  you  another  Com- 
forter" etc.,  (John  14 : 15, 16).  "  Repent  and  be  bap- 
tized every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost "  (or  the  Comforter),  (Acts  2 : 
38).  "  And  we  are  witnesses  of  these  things,  and  so 
also  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  God  hath  given  to 
I  hem  that  obey  Him,  (Acts  5 : 32). 

If  I  would  enjoy  more  of  this  Holy  Spirit,  I  must 
be  more  obedient  to  Christ,  I  must  live  nearer  to 
Him.  Brethren,  let  us  not  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit 
whereby  we  are  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption, 
but  let  us  pray  as  did  David,  "  Create  in  me  a  clean 
heart,  0  God ;  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me. 
Cast  me  not  away  from  thy  presence,  and  take  not 
thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me."  Praise  God  for  this  com- 
orter. 

5.  He  must  die  to  reconcile  us  and  bring  us  back 
to  God.   I  suppose  the  death  of  Christ  did  look 


WHY  MUST  CHRIST  DIE? 


351 


God-ward,  did  affect  God,  but  to  what  extent  I  do 
not  know.  But  I  do  know  that  His  death  looks 
man-ward,  and  its  effect  is  marvelous. 

The  doctrine  that  God  is  angry  with  the  sons  of 
men  and  cannot  have  mercy  upon  them  until  He  has 
wreaked  vengeance  upon  His  only  begotten  Son,  is 
contrary  to  my  idea  of  a  loving  Father.  God  was 
angry  neither  with  Christ  nor  the  sons  of  men. 
Twice  does  He  call  Christ  His  "well  beloved  Son  in 
whom  He  is  well  pleased."  And  He  so  loved  the 
world  that  He  gave  His  Son  to  die  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish  but  have  ever- 
lasting life. 

Christ  was  not  punished  for  our  sins,  but  He  did 
suffer  for  them.  There  is  a  vast  difference  between 
punishment  and  suffering.  The  guilty  only  can  be 
punished,  while  the  innocent  may  suffer. 

I  visited  at  one  time  a  family  composed  of  father, 
mother,  two  daughters  and  one  son.  The  mother 
and  two  daughters  were  Christians  and  belonged  to 
the  congregation  for  which  I  was  preaching.  They 
had  not  been  to  church  for  some  weeks  ;md  I  asked 
them  the  reason  why.  All  were  silent  for  a  time 
and  they  then  burst  forth  into  tears  while  one  of  the 
daughters  said:  "We  have  not  had  the  heart  to 
come ;  we  are  covered  with  shame  and  disgrace  and 
we  feel  that  death  would  be  a  sweet  release."  What 
was  so  terrible  as  to  thus  crush  the  hearts,  blast  the 
lives  and  make  a  hell  of  earth  ?  A  drunken  father 
and  brother.  These  daughters  did  suffer  but  were 
not  punished,  the  drunkards  only  could  be  punished. 


352 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


I  have  described  a  scene  only  to  well-known  in  the 
world.  0  God,  help  us  to  banish  this  monster,  this 
demon  of  hell  that  has  caused  so  much  suffering  in 
our  land. 

We  may  suffer  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin,  but 
be  punished  only  for  our  own.  Christ  never  sinned, 
therefore,  was  never  punished,  but  He  did  suffer  for 
our  sins.  But  why  did  He  suffer?  That  He  might 
It  lug  us  to  God.    (1  Peter  3: 18). 

K  our  salvation  had  been  a  commercial  purchase 
or  transaction,  God  would  have  saved  all,  or  if  it 
had  been  a  matter  of  philanthropy  or  power,  God 
would  have  saved  all.  But  God  could  not  sane  man 
(I  speak  reverently)  unless  he  came  back  to  him; 
hence,  Christ  must  die  to  bring  man  back  to  God. 

All  Christ  said  and  did  was  to  make  man  willing 
to  be  saved.  He  holds  up  His  hands  crimsoned  in 
His  own  blood  and  says,  "  Will  you  be  saved? "  He 
would  say,  "  Behold  these  blood-beads  running  down 
my  face ;  see  my  torn  side,  now  will  you  come  to 
God  ? "  0  sinner !  will  you  not  sit  beneath  the  drop- 
ping of  that  thorn-crowned  summit  until  your  stub- 
born heart  gives  way,  your  cheeks  turn  pale  and 
with  quivering  lips  "you  say, 

'  I  yield,  I  yield,  I  can  hold  out  no  more, 
I  sink  by  dying  love  compelled, 
And  own  thee  conqueror." 

Nothing  short  of  His  death  would  have  so  effect- 
ively brought  us  to  God.  The  purity  of  His  life, 
the  tenderness  of  His  great  heart  and  His  tears  might 


WHY  MUST  CHRIST  DIE  ? 


353 


have  drawn  some  ;  His  suffering  in  the  garden  might 
have  drawn  others ;  but  God  gives  us  a  greater 
demonstration  of  His  love  than  all  this — He  permits 
His  Son  to  be  nailed  to  the  cross. 

Why  must  he  be  nailed  there  ?  "  And  as  Moses 
lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so 
must  the  son  of  man  be  lifted  up,"  (John  3 : 14).  "  T, 
if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men 
unto  me  "  (John  12 : 32). 

His  death,  burial  and  resurrection  which  Paul 
termed  the  gospel,  is  the  drawing  power  of  God. 
Whosoever  resisteth  that  power,  resisteth  the  power 
of  God,  "  my  word"  (or  gospel)  "  is  quick  and  pow- 
erful," that  is,  it  is  full  of  power. 

Paul  says  he  pursuades  men,  that  is,  he  pursuades 
men  to  come  to  God,  by  preaching  Christ.  Under 
the  influence  of  this  gospel,  Agrippa  said'  to  Paul, 
"  Almost  thou  pursuadest  me  to  be  a  Christian." 

At  one  time  a  city  preacher  made  an  appointment 
to  preach  to  an  illiterate  people  of  a  certain  inland 
town.  After  he  had  sent  the  appointment  he  began 
to  ask  himself  this  question,  "  How  can  I  interest 
those  people  ?  If  I  go  there  and  preach  theology  as 
I  do  to  my  congregation  in  the  city,  they  will  not 
comprehend  it ;  what  shall  I  do  ?"  He  at  last  re- 
solved liked  this:  "I  will  leave  my  theology  at 
home  and  I  will  go  and  preach  in  its  simplest  form, 
the  gospel,  or  Christ  crucified.'*  A  large  audience 
greeted  him.  He  said  that  before  he  was  half  through 
he  noticed  that  one-half  of  the  congregation  was  in 
sympathy  with  the  discourse,  and  when  he  was  done, 


354 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


the  whole  audience  was  bathed  in  tears.  The  people 
said,  "  we  never  heard  such  preaching  "before ;  we 
can  understand  and  appreciate  that  kind  of  preach- 
ing." Would  to  Grod  there  was  more  plain  and  sim- 
ple gospel  preached  and  less  theology.  The  contest 
to-day  is  not  over  theology,  dogmas,  hair-splitting 
questions  nor  speculations,  but  over  the  crucified 
form  of  the  Son  of  God. 

To  illustrate  how  his  sufferings  and  death  may 
persuade  us  to  come  back  to  our  Father,  we  will  sup- 
pose a  case,  one  not  unreasonable,  but  has  often 
occurred.  Suppose  the  younger  son  of  a  family  has 
become  a  prodigal,  has  gone  into  a  far  country. 
One  evening  as  twilight  deepens  around  that  home, 
the  father  groans  and  says,  "  I  am  so  sad  this  even- 
ing, how  many  are  the  troubles  we  have  to  bear  in 
this  life."  The  elder  son  hears  his  father  and  says, 
"Father,  what  can  the  matter  be?"  "  Oh,  I  was  just 
thinking  of  }^our  prodigal  brother ;  I  wonder  where 
he  is  to-night  ?  He  may  be  hungry,  he  may  be  cold. 
Poor  boy,  I  will  never  see  him  again  I  fear.  If  he 
only  knew  how  he  is  grieving  me  he  would  surely 
come  back."  At  this  juncture  the  elder  son  says, 
"  Father,  I'll  go  and  search  for  my  brother  and  if  I 
find  him,  will  try  to  persuade  him  to  come  back  to 
you."  The  elder  brother  starts  on  the  long,  peril- 
ous journey.  After  days  of  travel,  part  of  the  time 
through  an  enemies  land,  he  finds  his  brother, 
ragged,  and  so  poverty-stricken  that  he  is  compelled 
to  feed  swine.  The  elder  brother  tells  the  younger 
of  the  abundance  in  his  father's  house,  tells  him  of 


WHY  MUST  CHRIST  DIE  f 


865 


the  grief  and  love  of  his  father  and  how  anxious  the 
father  is  to  have  him  come  home.  But  the  prodigal 
says,  "  I  will  not  go,"  Still  his  brother  pleads  and 
will  not  give  him  up.  By  and  by  an  enemy  comes 
upon  them  and  the  elder  brother  is  killed.  The  prodi- 
gal son  looks  upon  his  brother,  bleeding  and  dead 
before  him,  and  soliliquizes  thus :  "  Oh !  how  great 
must  have  been  the  love  of  my  brother  to  come  all 
this  long  journey  for  me  ;  and  how  great  must  have 
been  the  love  of  my  father  to  permit  him  to  come." 
He  comes  to  himself  and  says,  "  I  will  arise  and  go 
to  my  father." 

So,  dear  sinner,  Jesus  has  come  the  immeasurable 
distance  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  has  d'ed  to 
persuade  you  to  come  back  to  God.  Yes,  Jesus  was 
slain  to  bring  you  to  God.  Do  I  hear  one  saying, 
"  I  will  arise  and  come  ?"  God  help  you  to  come 
and  come  now. 

Since  God  has  ordained  that  preaching  a  crucified 
Redeemer  shall  stir  the  souls  of  men,  and  draw  them 
to  Himself,  I  ask,  dear  sinner,  has  it  had  its  desired 
effect  upon  your  soul  ?  Have  you  listened  to  this 
gospel  with  indifference,  have  you  had  no  feeling  as 
you  listened  to  this  tale  of  love  and  sorrow  ?  No,  no, 
it  cannot  be.  If  the  death  of  Christ  would  cause  the 
sun  to  blush  in  shame,  the  earth  to  reel  and  the 
flinty  rocks  to  fall  apart,  is  there  not  power  enough 
in  it  to  melt  the  hearts  of  men  ? 

Sinner,  follow  Jesus  from  the  manger  to  the  gar- 
den, from  the  garden  to  the  judgment  hall,  from  the 
j  udgment  hall  to  the  cross  on  Calvary.    See  him 


356 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


bleeding,  suffering,  dying,  all  this  for  you.  Yes,  He 
must  die,  He  must  be  lifted  up  to  draw  sinners 
to  Himself.  Not  one  drop  of  His  blood,  but  all  the 
blood  shed  by  Him  was  necessary  to  the  salvation 
of  men. 

Having  heard  this  gospel,  yon  are  now  placed  in 
a  solemn  and  critical  situation.  Jesus  says,  "  If  I 
had  not  come  and  spoken  unto  them,  they  had 
not  sin ;  but  now  they  have  no  cloak  for  their  sin." 
(John  15 : 22). 

As  men  are  free  moral  agents,  as  soon  as  they 
hear  and  understand  the  gospel,  they  are  under  ob- 
ligatioD  to  embrace  it.  A  knowledge  of  duty  always 
binds  the  individual  to  a  performance  thereof.  In- 
difference is  disobedience.  To  stand  still  when 
Christ  commands  you  to  follow  Him  is  to  resist  His 
authority.  Sinner,  ask  your  most  intimate  friend 
who  sits  nearest  you  if  you  ought  not  come  to  Christ 
now.  Ask  your  brother,  sister,  father,  mother,  will 
they  not  all  say,  "  Yes,  by  all  means  come  now  ?" 

Suppose  you  could  ascend  to  heaven  and  ask  the 
angels,  would  they  not  say,  "Yes,  come  to  Jesus?" 
Suppose  you  could  ask  a  sainted  mother  who  has 
long  since  entered  the  joys  of  her  eternal  home, 
would  she  not  say,  "  Yes,  my  child,  come  at  once  ?" 
Suppose  you  could  unlock  the  gates  of  hell  and 
could  ask  the  lost  ones,  what  would  they  say  ?  We 
have  heard  from  that  world  but  once,  then  the  rich 
man  said  to  Father  Abraham,  "  Send  Lazarus  back 
to  yonder  world,  I  have  five  brethren  there,  that  he 
may  warn  them  not  to  come  to  this  place."  Since 


WHY  MUST  CHRIST  DIB? 


357 


heaven  and  earth  and  hell,  and  the  good  and  pure 
of  all  ages,  exhort  you  to  come,  why  not  heed  their 
warning  voice. 

Then  see  Jesus  holding  out  to  you  His  bleeding 
hands,  and  hear  Him  pleading  all  the  day  to  you  to 
come.  Oh,  how  can  you  stay  away !  "Will  you  not 
say  from  the  depths  of  a  convinced  and  convicted 
heart : 

"  I  am  coming  Lord ! 
Coming  now  to  Thee; 
Wash  me,  cleanse  me  in  the  blood 
That  flowed  on  Calvary." 


CHAS.  BLANCH  ARD. 


FAIR  exhibit  of  the  Iowa  pulpit  could  not  be  given, 
without  at  least  one  representative  from  among  the 
young  preachers.  Consequently  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  here  introduced.  He  was  born  in  Louisa 
County,  Iowa,  September  7,  1861,  and  is  consequently 
in  his  twenty-third  year.  He  grew  up  on  a  farm 
owned  by  his  father,  who  is  an  industrious  and  suc- 
cessful farmer,  until  he  was  seventeen  years  old  ;  having  had 
the  advantages  of  the  the  district  school  and  the  city  schools 
in  Wapello,  four  miles  away. 

From  that  time  till  he  was  twenty,  he  engaged  in  teaching  in 
winter  and  working  on  the  farm  in  summer,  thus  training  both 
body  and  mind  for  the  responsibilities  of  life.  Thereafter  he 
attended  school  at  Eureka,  Illinois,  for  about  one  year,  preach- 
ing here  and  there  during  the  time,  as  is  the  custom  of  stu- 
dents contemplating  the  ministry. 

He  was  baptized  by  L.  C.  Wilson,  July  13, 1879,  and  made  his 
first  attempt  at  preaching,  at  Matamora,  Illinois,  when  but 
twenty  years  of  age.  Having  returned  from  Eureka  he  taught 
school  till  June,  1883,  when  he  entered  regularly  upon  the  work 
of  the  ministry  and  took  a  field  in  Monona  County,  Iowa,  which 
was  being  organized  by  the  State  Evangelist.  In  this  field  he 
still  labors  with  great  acceptance,  and  has  had  reasonable 
'success. 

He  is  large  hearted,  and  true  by  nature;  and  these,  warmed 
by  the  sympathy  and  culture  of  a  Christian  mother,  give  him 
strong  character.  He  is  intensely  in  earnest  in  his  chosen 
life  work,  and  highly  appreciates  any  assistance  he  receives. 
He  is  very  devoted  to  God,  and  no  amount  of  cares  ever  robs 
Him  of  his  pious  devotions.  He  has  almost  a  mania  for  personal 
parity  and  mastery  over  sin.  The  following  from  a  letter  brings 

359 


360 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


him  out  very  well :  "  I  have  worked  hard  ;  studied  hard ;  in  the 
field,  in  the  school-room,  by  the  teacher's  desk,  on  the  cars,  and 
in  the  short  space  of  time  I  have  been  in  the  regular  ministry.  I 
have  struggled  hard  with  sin — how  hard,  God  and  my  own 
heart  only  know.  I  have  tried  above  all  to  be  honest:  to  keep 
pure  and  out  of  weakness,  always  and  earnestly  pray  to  be 
made  strong;  have  always  tried  to  do  my  work  well,  whether 
plowing  corn,  going  to  school,  or  preaching." 

In  personal  appearance,  he  is  about  five  feet  ten  inches  in 
height,  and  weighs  about  145  pounds;  spare  build ;  fair  com- 
plexioned  ;  youthful  countenance,  expressing  easily  the  kind- 
ness of  the  heart  within,  and  a  voice  that  indicates  a  com- 
mand of  self. 

In  style,  conversational,  with  great  earnestness ;  very  direct 
without  display  of  self,  but  earnestly  pleading  for  Christ  with 
seeming  obliviousness  to  any  other  claim  in  the  world.  Frater- 
nal greetings  to  every  one,  especially  to  the  children.  He  will 
be  a  success  in  the  ministry  if  no  misfortune  befalls  him. 


ARE  YE  ALSO  DECEIVED  ? 


BY  0.  BLANOHARD. 


"Then  came  the  officers  to  the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees ;  and 
they  said  unto  them,  Why  have  ye  not  brought  Him  ?  The 
officers  answered,  Never  man  spake  like  this  man.  Then 
answered  the  Pharisees,  Are  ye  also  deceived?  Have  any  of  the 
rulers  of  the  Pharisees  believed  on  Him?"— John  7  :  45,  48. 

"There  is  a  story  long  beloved  by  man, 
Earth  hath  no  such  plan." 

'RE  we  also  deceived?  Or  are  we  deceiving 
ourselves  ?  Is  this  story  long  Ibeloved,  this 
sweet  Evangel  among  men,  true,  or  is  it  not? 
Are  its  "virtues  "  virtues  indeed?  Its  "  final- 
alties"  finaltiest  What  is  truth?  Truth  is 
divine  He  that  answers  this  question  must  "be  divine. 
"Never  man  bo  spake!"  (Rev.  Ver.)  Is  not  this  One 
more  than  man?  Is  He  not  divine?  What  is  His 
authority?  Can  He  answer?  Is  this  of  a  truth  the 
prophet?  Look  we  for  another?  When  the  Christ 
cometh  will  He  do  more  wonderful  works  than  these  ? 
Is  not  this  the  Christ?  Surely  this  is  the  Christ! 

But  some  will  say,  "How  can  these  things  be? 
What,  doth  the  Christ  come  out  of  Galilee?  Search, 
and  see  that  out  of  Galilee  ariseth  no  prophet !  Some 
say  that  He  is  a  good  man.  Others,  no ;  for  He 

361 


362 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


leadeth  the  people  astray.  Axe  ye  also  deceived! 
What  then  ?  Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs 
of  thistles  ?  Either  make  the  tree  good  and  its  fruit 
good,  or  the  tree  evil  and  its  fruit  evil ! "  What  is 

Truth? 

Either  the  religion  of  the  Galilean  Prophet  is 
true,  or  it  is  the  strangest  deception  ever  perpetrated 
against  humanity. 

If  it  is  not  true,  what?  Then  the  Bible  is  not  true. 
Then  the  psalms  of  Israel's  sweet  singer,  which  have 
soothed  and  comforted  so  many  of  earth's  weary ; 
cheered  so  many  of  earth's  striving ;  sustained  so 
many  of  earth's  falling ;  quickened  the  spiritual  as- 
pirations of  myriads ;  inspired,  the  sweetest  songs 
ever  sung  by  mortals ;  filled  vast  temples  and  cathe- 
drals with  holy  music ;  echoed  in  caves  and  moun- 
tains; went  humbly,  gladly  up  from  huts  'mid 
mountain  and  forest ;  cheered  the  hour  of  age,  and 
pleased  the  heart  of  childhood ;  filled  with  holy  awe 
and  reverence  the  sacred  assembly ;  nerved  the  heart 
of  the  warrior,  and  shouted  in  the  song  of  the  victor ; 
sustained  in  the  hour  of  trial,  and  consoled  in  the 
time  of  mourning;  been  softly  sung  o'er  by  the  bed- 
side, and  lisped  in  broken  strains  by  the  dying ; 
sung  in  the  homes  and  haunts  of  the  living,  written  on 
the  tombs  of  the  dead !  But  what  of  all  this  ?  These 
are  but  the  fine  fancies  of  a  gifted  but  dreamy  shep- 
herd lad !  This  royal  Prince,  indeed,  is  the  prince  of 
magicians!  These  things  are  not  true,  however 
sweet  they  be,  for  David  in  the  Spirit  called  Him 
Lord,  and  speaketh  likewise  of  His  coming  1 


ATCE  YE  ALSO  DECEIVED  ? 


363 


Then  the  prophecies — open  visions  of  the  majestic 
glory  from  above ;  the  Spirit's  songs  in  the  night- 
watches  in  the  dawning  of  the  Day-Star  from  on  high ; 
the  holy  breathings  of  those  who  sought  diligently 
how  they  might  look  into  these  things ;  who  saw  the 
promises  afar  and  greeted  them ;  and  who  endured 
as  seeing  Him  that  is  invisible, — these,  in  like  man- 
ner, are  not  true,  are  but  the  fancies  of  idle  dreamers, 
— if,  indeed,  Emmanuel  hath  not  come.  "  For  all 
the  prophets  from  Samuel  and  thereon  downward  as 
many  as  have  spoken,  have  likewise  testified  of  these 
days."  "To  Him  bear  all  the  prophets  witness, 
that  whosoever  belie veth  in  His  name,  might  have 
everlasting  life." 

Moses  also  saith :  "  A  prophet  shall  the  Lord  thy 
God  raise  up  unto  thee  from  among  the  brethren, 
like  unto  me,  and  unto  Him,  shall  the  gathering  of 
the  people  be.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  who- 
soever will  not  hearken  unto  this  Prophet,  shall  b 
utterly  cut  off  from  among  the  people." 

But  more :  The  manifold,  gracious  words  of  Mes- 
siah, whereat  the  people  wondered,  and  the  multi- 
tude were  astonished;  their  sweetness,  their  purity 
their  compassionate  tenderness ;  their  authority,  theii 
strong  condemnations ;  their  precious  invitations, 
precious  and  exceeding  great  promises,  these  are 
untrue,  or  meaningless,  or  deceptive,  if  Jesus  be  not 
the  promised  Messiah.  His  words  bear  witness  of 
Him.  "  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you  are  not 
mine,  but  the  Father's  which  sent  me."  But  if  He 
i  s  not  the  Son.  then  His  saving  is  not  true.    If  He 


3G4 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


"bear  witness  of  himself,  His  witness  is  not  true. 
Then  we  know  not  what  is  truth ;  for  if  he  be  not 
the  Christ,  then  He  is  not  the  truth.  And  He  who 
spake  as  never  man  spake,  in  parables  unto  the 
multitudes,  hath  left  unapplied  the  parable  of  para- 
bles, unsolved  the  mystery  of  mysteries,  "  God  is 
love  !  "  For  if  he  be  not  the  Son.  then  God* hath  not 
loved  the  world,  nor  sent  the  Son  to  be  the  Savior  of 
the  world!  Then  the  sweet  Evangel  among  men 
hath  lost  its  sweetness;  Faith  hath  been  crucified 
between  'two  malefactors,  in  the  person  of  the  third ; 
while  Hope  lies  deeply  buried  in  an  unknown  tomb ; 
and  Love  is  yet  a  stranger  in  the  world,  and  man  a 
pilgrim  in  the  earth  as  all  his  fathers  were ;  but  not 
as  they,  look  we  for  the  Coming  One ! 

"  We  sit  unowned  upon  our  burial  sod, 
And  know  not  whence  we  are,  or  whose  we  be 
Comfortless  mourners  for  the  house  of  God — 
The  rocks  of  Calvary  !  " 

Then  the  apostles'  strong  teachings  are  but  as  the 
impossible  ideals  and  imaginings  of  the  Hermits 
'mid  the  desert  caves .  What  profit,  if  after  the 
manner  of  men  they  fought  with  beasts  at  Ephesus? 
What  avail  their  strivings  unto  blood ;  their  strong 
exhortations  to  their  brethren  in  bonds  ?  For,  in- 
deed, say  they,  if  Christ  be  not  risen  from  the  dead, 
then  is  our  preaching  vain,  your  faith  vain,  and  ye 
are  yet  in  your  sins.  And  if  in  this  life  only  we 
have  hope  in  Christ,  we  are  of  all  men  more  piti- 
able. Yea,  we  are  found  false  witnesses  of  God,  if 
so  be  that  the  dead  are  not  raised  ! 


ARE  YE  ALSO  DECEIVED? 


365 


Then  the  learned  of  the  world  are  deceived.  The 
learning  of  the  world  to-day  is  for  Christ,  not 
against  Him.  The  best  learning  of  the  world  is  not 
opposed  to  Christ.  The  gospel  is  not  opposed  to 
enlightenment.  It  is  the  true  culture.  A  univer- 
sally enlightened  and  thus  a  universally  saved  peo- 
ple ;  an  illuminated  and  a  sanctified  humanity,  are 
divine  apprehensions.  "  It  is  God  that  hath  said, 
light  shall  shine  out  of  darkness,  who  shined  in  our 
hearts,  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ."  God 
saves  men  "by  illuminating  their  minds  through  the 
gospel  of  the  glory  of  Christ  (2  Cor.  4 : 3-6).  Next 
to  perversity  of  will,  and  worldliness,  the  worst 
enemy  of  the  gospel  is  ignorance. 

Not  even  the  learned  scientists  are  unbelievers. 
Of  the  American  Association  for  the  Promotion  of 
Science,  held,  I  think  in  1880,  over  three-fourths  of 
the  two  thousand  members,  were  believers  in  the 
divine  mission  of  Messiah,  and  the  Royal  Society, 
consisting  of  the  most  eminent  scientists  of  Great 
Britain,  thought  it  not  unbecoming  during  one  of 
their  recent  meetings,  to  adjourn  on  the  Lord's  day, 
and  themselves  engage  in  a  special  service  to  the 
Most  High,  avowing  their  mutual  faith  in  the  one 
Supreme  Being.  "Science  bows  low  at  the  foot 
of  the  cross."  The  learned  pay  tribute  to  the 
one  greater  than  Csesar !  But  if  Jesus  be  not  the 
Christ,  if  His  high  claim  is  not  true,  then  these  are 
also  deceived. 
Then  our  universities,  colleges,  seminaries,  and 


366  THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 

public  schools,  are  engaged  in  propagating  a  mag- 
nificent lie !  The  larger  part  of  our  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning  have  been  founded,  and  are 
sustained,  either  immediately  or  by  the  influence  of 
the  church.  Our  public  schools  are  the  out-growth 
of  the  Puritan  idea  of  intelligence,  drawn  from  the 
book  of  books  to  them  and  us.  But,  if  the  religion 
of  the  Gralilean  Prophet  is  not  true,  then  wisdom 
hath  become  the  handmaid  of  folly,  and  we  are  her 
children ! 

Then  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  engaged  in 
an  abominable  traffic  with  men's  souls !  "What  we 
had  accounted  "  holy  toils  "  for  the  Holy  One  that 
died,  if  indeed  He  liveth  not  again,  are  but  a  blind 
and  reckless  traffic  with  immortal  wares!  Who 
cares  for  the  souls  of  men?  Who  lead  the  blind? 
"  Yerily,  if  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  they  both  fall 
into  the  ditch."  If  the  religion  of  the  Nazarene 
Prophet  is  not  true,  then  ministers  of  His,  however 
pure,  devoted,  self-denying,  god-fearing,  are  never- 
theless deluded  and  delusive  men  ;  and  self-protec- 
tion demands,  that  along  with  other  deceivers,  we 
"  Beware  of  Frauds  ! "  Post  it  up  in  public  places ; 
by  the  road-side ;  on  the  street-corners ;  on  the 
lamp-post ;  on  our  highway  bridges ;  in  the  cars ; 
on  the  church-doors;  over  the  pulpit  and  public 
rostrum;  in  our  school-houses;  over  the  mantle- 
piece  ;  yea,  on  the  grave-stones  of  loved  ones — lest 
they  defraud  us  even  of  their  lifeless  dust ! 

Then,  like  the  Athenians,  we  are  engaged  in  wor- 
shiping an  "  unknown  God."    Their  mocking  of  the 


ARE  YE  ALSO  DECEIVED  f 


367 


resurrection,  is  the  yust  scorn  of  an  idle  tale.  They 
were  wiser  than  apostles,  hence  wiser  than  we.  Pro- 
fessing- ourselves  to  be  wise  we  are  become  fools. 

With  the  Agnostic  of  our  own  day,  we  cannot 
speak  certainly  of  the  beyond.  In  what  word  of 
comfort  shall  we  speak  to  one  another  %  We  do  not 
know  that  man  has  any  soul !  The  doctrine  of  Im 
mortality  is  a  huge  deception,  having  no  sufficient 
basis  on  which  to  rest.  The  resurrection  is  a  myth- 
ical tale.    The  dead  rise  no  more  ! 

With  the  Ephesians  we  are  without  God  and  with- 
out Hope  in  the  world.  The  Hope  of  the  faithful 
followers  of  the  Galilean  Prophet,  is  a  bauble  in 
mid  ocean ;  it  is  like  a  broken  cable ;  it  is  an  anchor 
dropped  in  a  bottomless  sea !  Verily,  it  reacheth  not 
into  the  heavens,  but  is  buried  in  the  graves  of  all 
men !  The  earth  and  sea  are  one  eternal  sepulcher  ! 

Then  the  prophets,'  Messiah's,  Apostles'  sufferings 
and  bitter  cryings  and  tears,  with  mighty  trials  of 
faith,  not  accepting  their  deliverance,  are  but  as  the 
fabled  stories  of  the  gods. 

The  scornful  "Aha!  let  Him  come  down  from 
the  cross  now,  and  we  will  believe  on  Him,"  finds  no 
answer.  There  is  no  answer  in  death!  O,  son  of 
man,  there  is  no  wisdom  in  the  grave  whither  thou 
goest!  If  the  grave  hath  not  been  opened,  if  the 
Lord  be  not  risen  indeed,  then  our  faith  is  vain,  the 
scornful  laugh  mocks  our  hopeless  woe,  and  "  they 
also  which  are  fallen  asleep  in  Jesus  are  perished  J " 

The  apostles'  midnight  songs  and  prayers  give 
back  the  echo,  0,  deluded  men !  Festus  was  right 


368 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


when  he  said,  "Paul,  thou  art  beside  thyself;  much 
learning  hath  made  thee  mad ! " 

This  heresy  that  was  everywhere  evil  spoken  of,  is 
the  worst  heresy  that  ever  obtained  among  men. 
Saul  of  Tarsus  was  fairly  right  when  he  thought 
within  himself  that  he  ought  to  do  many  things  con- 
trary to  this  way.  It  is  not  the  way,  if  Jesus  be 
not  the  Christ  of  God. 

The  martyr's  triumphant  march  is  but  as  the  vilest 
criminal  to  the  gibbet  or  the  stake.  Their  fires  are 
as  the  false  beacons  of  the  wreckers  along  the  main. 

The  vaunting  boast  of  the  hardened  criminal,  "I 
am  an  Ingersoll  man !  "  contains  more  of  truth  and 
as  much  of  triumph  as  Paul's  grand  burst  of  Chris- 
tian hope,  expectation  and  joy, — if  the  gospel  which 
he  preached  be  not  true ;  and  it  is  not,  else  Jesus  is 
the  Christ,  dead,  buried,  and  raised  again  the  third 
day,  "  according  to  the  Scriptures."  And  if  the  Gos- 
pel which  Paul  preached  is  not  true,  then  have  we 
received  the  grace  of  God  in  vain.  Nay,  then  the 
grace  of  God,  which  bringeth  salvation,  hath  not  ap- 
peared. Salvation's  song  is  hushed  forever.  Hushed 
then,  the  voice  of  them  who  "  bring  glad  tidings  of 
good  things  unto  all  people."  Ah !  weary  and  worn 
the  feet  on  the  mountain  tops !  Moss-grown  the 
threshold  of  the  household  of  God.  Silent  all  as  the 
graves,  'mid  which  it  stands !  A  silent  teacher  still 
that  mortal  men  are  going  the  way  of  all  the  earth. 
Solemn  reminder  of  the  hope,  the  joy,  the  gladness, 
the  glory,  that  men  once  dreamed  of  here,  but  which 
never  again  may  be  I 


ARE  YE  ALSO  DECEIVED? 


869 


What  avail  those  strifes  and  stormings;  those 
sufferings  by  ship-wreck ;  that  day  and  night  in  the 
deep  ;  those  journey ings  often ;  perils  of  waters ; 
perils  of  robbers ;  perils  by  his  own  countrymen ; 
perils  by  the  heathen ;  perils  in  city ;  perils  in  the 
wilderness ;  perils  in  the  sea ;  perils  among  false 
brethren ;  those  watchings  often,  in  weariness  and 
painfulness ;  in  hunger  and  thirstings ;  in  fastings,  in 
cold  and  nakedness ;  and  besides  all  these  things, 
the  care  of  all  the  churches  ?  Those  burnings  and 
yearnings  for  the  weak,  or  offended,  or  offending? 
What  avail  it,  Paul,  though  you  were  in  labors  more 
abundant ;  in  stripes  above  measure ;  in  prisons  more 
frequent;  in  deaths  oft'?  Ah!  Surely  Paul,  thy 
glory  is  in  the  things  which  concern  thine  infirmity, 
if  Jesus  be  not  the  Lord's  Anointed — Blessed  forever- 
more  ! 

Then  the  parting  words  and  smiles  are  but  as  de- 
lusive beckonings  of  children  at  their  play.  We  are 
like  children,  piping  one  another  in  the  market 
places,  and  saying:  "We  have  piped  to  you  and 
you  have  not  danced." 

What  we  thought  were  monitions  from  the  unseen 
are  but  idle  fancies,  and  utterly  unworthy  our  cher- 
ishing. "Mother,  turnup  the  light?"  No!  Turn 
it  down !  Blow  it  out !  Blot  out  the  memory  of  that 
smile  I  Forget  forever  the  memory  of  that  last  whis- 
per, "I  am  better  now!"  Dead !  Gone  forever !  Then 
throw  away  that  faded  flower !  Cherish  no  longer 
that  hope;  it  too  is  dead/  The  "unknown"  is — 
Nothing  I  The  "unseen"  is — Nowhere  I  0,  what 
dreamers  we  are  I 

24 


370 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT, 


Then  the  very  inscriptions  on  the  grave-stones  of 
loved  but  lost,  mock  us.  The  language  of  the  grave- 
stone is  cold,  heartless !  There  are  no  gossips  in  the 
city  of  the  dead,  say  you?  Ah !  They  are  gossips, 
big  and  little!  They  will  be  your  and  my  nearest 
neighbors  by-and-by.  We  will  be  bike  them  very 
soon  !  Ere  long  we  will  gossip  over  black  and  white 
pailing,  with  everybody  that  comes  along,  and  be  the 
veriest  deceivers !  For  man  hath  staked  off  God's 
Acre  and  written  it  all  over  with  lieses— else  Jesus  be 
risen  from  the  dead.  For  if  He  be  not,  how  say  we 
the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise?  If  Christ  be  not  risen, 
if  the  dead  rise  not,  then  are  we  deceived  in  life,  and 
the  veriest  deceivers  in  death ! 

Fhen  the  very  bells  that  ring  on  the  recurring 
morn  of  the  fiiv>t  day  of  the  week,  when  it  was  her- 
alded the  hopeless  disciples,  by  those  who  were  early 
at  the  sepulchery  "The  Lord  is  risen  indeed ! "  but 
adds  mocking  to  their  hopeless  woe  and  ours,  if  in- 
deed, some  came  by  night  and  stole  His  body  away. 
It  matters  not  where  they  laid  Him ;  if  He  be  not 
risen  again,  then  theirs  and  ours  is  a  hopeless  woe, 
and  every  bell  that  rings,  but  repeats  the  echo- 
ic, Woe,  WOE. 

The  meriy-makings  of  the  Christmas  holidays  are 
but  as  the  reckless  rush  of  the  frenzied  throng  at 
Belshazzar's  fatal  feast.  These  things  can  only  mean, 
"eat,  drink  and  be  merry,  for  to-morrow  we  die!" 
Even  now  the  fatal  words  are  written.  "  Weighed  in 
the  balance  and  found  wanting."  Look  heavenward ! 
Read  them  in  the  rain-bow  colors  of  the  clouds ! 


ARE  YE  ALSO  DECEIVED? 


371 


Listen!  Hear  them  out  of  heaven's  serenest  skies! 
Read  them  in  the  langauge  of  the  flowers !  Hear  them 
in  the  patter  of  the  rain-drops ;  in  the  falling  of  the 
snow-flakes;  in  the  rustle  of  the  leaves !  Fancies 
these  ?  Nay,  verily  these  things  are  true,  if  the  Voice 
from  the  Majestic  glory  hath  not  spoken  that  other 
strong  word,  "This  is  my  beloved  Son,  Hear  Him!" 
For  if  His  disciples,  which  companied  with  Him  in 
the  Holy  Mount,  have  followed  cunningly  devised 
fables,  then  are  we  also  deceived ! 

Max  Muller  says :  "  The  history  of  man  is  but  a 
sad.  piteous  wail,  save  for  the  fact  that  man  is,  and 
hath  always  been  seeking  after  God,  if  hapily  he 
might  find  Him,  though  He  be  not  far  from  us 
all."  But  0,  how  this  Scripture  mocks  us,  if  God 
hath  not  revealed  Himself  to  man !  And  this  He 
hath  not,  if  the  religion  of  Jesus  be  not  true !  For 
who  hath  spoken  like  this  One  ?  Who  so  like  unto 
all  we  might  conceive  the  Son  of  God  to  be  ?  Who  so 
holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate  from  sin- 
ners as  He  ?  Who  so  wise,  or  so  worthy  to  speak 
unto  us  the  words  of  eternal  life,  learned  on  the 
bosom  of  the  Father?  Unto  whom  shall  we  go? 
We  know  not  whither!  How  can  we  know  the 
way?  The  orphan-children's  cry,  "Show  us  the 
Father  and  it  sufficeth  us,"  finds  no  one  to  answer 
with  reassuring,  gentle,  loving  words,  rebuking 
while  comforting  our  faithless  hearts.  Bereft  of 
the  Father  man  is— 

"  An  infant  crying  in  the  night, 
An  infant  crying  for  the  light, 
And  with  no  language  but  a  cry  1" 


372 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Bereft  of  heaven ;  of  the  holier  passions  of  these 
our  human  hearts ;  of  our  immortal  hopes ;  of  our 
unsatisfied  longings  after  purity  and  peace ;  of  these 
heavenlier  visions  of  the  glory  that  once  was,  yet 
shall  be;  bereft  of  these  notwithstanding  all  our 
wisdom,  our  science  so-called,  our  philosophies; 
our  material  marvels;  our  miracles  wrought  with 
human  hands  ;  our  pride,  our  pomp,  our  glory ;  our 
songs,  our  fantasies,  our  very  ecstacies  of  short- 
lived joy  ;  it  still  remains,  a  sad  commentary  indeed, 
upon  the  wisdom  of  the  least  wise  of  all  earth's 
habitants, — marts  history  is  but  one  unending  pur- 
poseless tragedy  ! 

Our  driving,  mad.  swift-flying  world,  with  all  its 
myriad  multitudes,  is  doomed  to  total  oblivion ! 
Scientists  say  our  world  is  dying.  It  is !  Centuries 
hence,  those  who  may  have  escaped  the  well  nigh 
universal  doom  of  a  million  worlds  we  know  not  of 
(if  perchance  there  lives  a  nobler  race  than  we, 
in  holding  forth  their  immortal it >/ .')  will  turn  their 
spy-glasses  earthward  and  pronounce  the  verdict.  A 

DEAD  WORLD  !     No  LlGHT  !     No  LlFE  ! 

LT.  If  the  religion  of  the  Galilean  Prophet  is 
true,  then  vice  versa  ! 

Then  those  who  oppose  or  reject  Him  are  deceived  ! 
The  teaching  of  Jesus  is  positive.  It  were  not  Di- 
vine if  otherwise.  Its  faith,  work,  life  must  be  pos- 
itive. He  that  is  not  for  Him  is  against  Him.  He 
that  gathereth  not  with  Him  scattereth  abroad.  He 
that  rejecteth  Him  rejecteth  also  the  Father  which 
sent  Him.    Such  are  found  fighting  against  God ! 


ABE  YE  ALSO  DECEIVED?  373 


"This  is  my  beloved  Son:  Hear  Him!"  Such 
heaven's  high  oracle  from  the  mount  of  glory. 
"  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living  God !" 
Such  the  testimony  of  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
who  were  eye-witnesses  of  His  glory.  Moreover, 
He  "was  declared  to  he  the  Son  of  God  with  power 
according  to  the  spirit  of  holiness  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead !"  He  is  alive  forever  more !  He 
reigns!  He  is  the  righteous,  holy,  just  One!  He 
is  heaven's  great  high— priestly,  kingly  One !  He  is 
earth's  high,  priestly,  kingly  Man !  His  name  is 
Emmanuel,  being  interpreted — God  with  us ! 

He  is  the  world's  Savior.  He  came  not  to  con- 
demn but  to  save.  He  is  your  Savior.  Why  op- 
pose, why  reject  Him?  What  evil  hath  He  done? 
For  what  good  work  wrought  do  you  speak  against 
Him?  Why  war  against  God's  Anointed?  Why 
endanger  your  soul's  safety,  your  salvation,  your 
eternal  glory  ? 

His  mission  is  merciful.  His  object  gracious. 
His  teaching  is  new,  holy,  heavenly,  illuminating, 
satisfying.  Why  choose  darkness  rather  than 
light?  Why  walk  longer  mid  the  dark  shadows? 
"  0,  give  me  no  guesses  for  a  dying  pillow !"  Why 
pillow  your  weary  head  upon  doubts  ?  Why  pierce 
those  way-worn  feet  ?  Why  tare  those  tired  hands  ? 
For  we  have  not  followed  cunningly  devised  fables. 
We  have  the  words  of  prophecy  made  more  sure, 
where  unto  ye  do  well  to  give  heed,  as  unto  a  bight 
shining  in  a  dark  place,  until  the  day  star  from  on 
high  dawn  upon  you.    0,  friends,  fathers,  mothers, 


S74 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


brothers,  sisters,  come  up,  come  wp  out  op  the 
mist  into  the  Sacked  Brightness. 

They  that  believe  on  Hini  need  never  be  put  to 
shame.  This  story  long  beloved  is  true.  The  sweet 
Evangel  among  men  is  gracious  as  He  who  spake  it 
first  in  Love's  own  language !  It  is  Love's  message ! 
God  is  Love  !  Love  is  ours.  Hope  is  ours.  Precious 
and  exceeding  great  promises  are  oursl  He  has 
called  us  by  His  own  glory  and  virtue,  unto  a  like 
precious  character  and  possession  with  Himself  I 
"Beloved  now  are  we  the  children  of  God."  We 
know  not  yet  what  we  shall  be.  But  He  shall  be 
manifest.  We  shall  be  like  Him.  We  shall  see 
Him  as  He  is  !  "  Yes,  Jesus  is  coming  again !  "  By 
and  by  we  shall  be  forever  with  the  Lord.  Himself 
will  receive  us  into  everlasting  habitations.  The 
Eternal's  tabernacles  await  us.  There  is  a  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  The  earth 
shall  grow  old  and  perish.  Our  house  in  heaven 
abides.  It  shall  abide  forever!  Now  we  are  saved 
in  hope.  We  live  in  hope,  earnestly  looking  and 
longing  for  what  shall  be. 

We  are  inheritors  of  all  the  past :  its  marvel,  its 
mystery,  its  miracle !  Its  examples  of  faith,  of  suf- 
fering. Verily,  the  Sufferer  hath  not  suffered  in 
vain.  Neither  have  any  ever  suffered  for  Him  in 
vain.  Apostles,  prophets,  martyrs,  devout  men, 
godly  women,  humblest  followers  of  the  Nazarene, 
who  bore  with  Him  the  cross,  then  all  receive  their 
reward !  Are  the  feet  worn  and  weary  ?  They  rest 
from  their  labors.    Their  works  do  follow  them. 


ABB  YE  AL80  DECEIVED? 


375 


They  enter  into  that  rest.  It  still  remains  I  We 
have  entered  into  their  lahors.  We  are  sharers  in 
their  holy  toils,  teachings,  triumphs !  We  shall  also 
rest  with  them  after  a  little  season  ! 

Moreover,  we  are  heirs  of  all  the  future,  because 
heirs, joint  heirs  with  Christ!  Of  the  heaven  we 
long  for,  with  all  heavenly  things !  Of  the  Immor- 
tality we  seek,  its  glory  and  honor  incorruptible ! 
An  eternal  life,  unspeakable  I  Eternity  and  all 
eternal  things! 


J.  A.  WALTERS. 


J.  A.  WALTERS?. 


OSEPH  A.  WALTERS  was  born  in  Monroe  Connty, 

Ohio,  February  16th,  1837.  His  parents  died  when  he 
was  but  a  mere  lad,  and  he  struggled  along  with  the 
usual  trials  in  such  cases.  When  but  sixteen,  he 
found  himself  studying  the  Scriptures,  with  a  view 
of  overthrowing  "  Campbellism,"  but  became  con- 
vinced, as  all  do,  who  try  that  method,  that  what  is  called 
"  Campbellism,"  is  but  Primitive  Christianity;  and  to  it  he 
yielded  obedience  in  the  early  part  of  his  sixteenth  year. 

After  this,  he  spent  about  two  years  in  the  christian  families 
of  William  Powell,  now  evangelizing  in  West  Virginia,  Elder 
Richard  Williams  and  Hon.  J.  W.  Williams,  all  members  of 
the  East  Branch  church,  in  Morgan  County,  Ohio.  "The  en- 
couragement received  from  them,  with  Isaac  Errett,  O.  A.  Bur- 
gess, and  others  who  stopped  with  those  families  during  yearly 
meetings,  created  an  unsatiable  thirst  for  an  education. 

He  attended  a  Presbyterian  college  at  Sharon,  Ohio,  where 
his  zeal  for  the  truth,  brought  him  into  conflict  with  the  Pres- 
byterian and  Methodist  preachers,  and  he  made  his  first  efforts 
at  public  preaching,  and  defending  the  faith,  Joseph  Dunn, 
L.  M.  Harvey  and  A.  G.  Ewing,  (son-in-law  of  A.  Campbell) 
going  forty  miles  to  his  assistance. 

He  entered  Bethany  College  in  1S55,  but  health  and  means 
failing  him,  he  left  in  May,  1857.  He  then  went  to  Washing- 
ton, Ills.,  and  taught  school  a  few  months,  living  in  the  family 
of  Elder  John  Johnson,  father  of  B.  W.  Johnson,  editor  of 
Christian  Evangelist.  In  1859,  he  made  a  trip  to  Pike's  Peak, 
which  greatly  improved  his  health,  much  more  than  his 
financial  condition. 

377 


378 


TILE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Upon  returning  to  Ohio,  he  taught  a  select  school  at  Antioch, 
which  however,  was  broken  up  by  the  war,  and  in  the  mean- 
time, he  was  happily  married  to  Miss  Sue  M.  McCune  of  Fair- 
view,  Ohio. 

Notwithstanding  he  began  preaching  in  his  eighteenth  year, 
he  was  not  ordained  till  1860,  from  which  time  till  1879,  he 
preached  at  various  places  in  Ohio,  and  then  removed  to 
Kearne)',  Neb.,  and  in  1881,  to  Iowa,  and  is  now  preaching  for 
Eedfield  and  Highland  churches,  his  address  being  Jefferson, 
capitol  of  Greene  County. 

In  personal  appearance,  he  is  about  five  feet  eight  inches  in 
height;  of  light  build,  and  weighs  about  135  pounds,  brown 
hair,  what  little  there  is  of  it;  keen  hazel  eyes,  and  withal  a 
genial  and  pleasant  expression. 

He  is  an  earnest  and  industrious  worker,  is  always  finding 
some  place  to  push  the  claims  of  the  Gospel.  Is  companion- 
able, cheerful  and  a  true  yoke-fellow  in  the  Gospel,  who  is 
always  on  hand  ready  to  do  his  part. 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD. 


BY  J.  A.  WALTERS. 


"Wherefore  be  ye  not  unwise,  but  understanding  what  the 
will  of  the  Lord  is."— Epbesians  5  : 17. 

fHERE  is  not  now,  in  all  this  universe,  nor 
was  there  ever,  in  all  the  ages  past,  nor  will 
there  ever  be,  in  all  time  to  come,  one  single 
being,  however  great  or  however  small,  con- 
cerning which  God  has  not  some  design,  or 
in  other  words,  a  will. 

"  He,  who  has  stretched  ont  the  heavens  like  a 
curtain  and  walks  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind,"  in- 
tends that  every  creatui  e  of  His  care  and  love,  from 
the  tallest  angel  that  dwells  in  light  celestial,  down 
to  the  smallest  insect  that  flies  above  our  heads,  shall 
accomplish  some  purpose  of  His  sovereign  will. 

If  the  mission  designed  for  each,  had  always  been 
perfectly  filled,  then  the  most  perfect  condition  of 
peace  and  prosperity  would  have  prevailed  that 
could  possibly  exist  in  a  world  like  this. 

Evidently  there  has  been  some  violation  of  the 
will  of  Him  "whose  throne  is  in  the  heavens  and 
whose  footstool  the  earth  is." 

379 


380 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Otherwise,  who  can  account  for  the  sadness  and 
sorrow,  the  pain  and  death,  here  and  there  and 
everywhere  throughout  the  inhabitable  earth.  Who 
or  what  has  disturbed  and  broken  the  peace  and 
order  that  existed  in  the  universe, "  When  the  morn- 
ing stars  sang  together  and  all  the  sons  of  G-od 
shouted  for  joy?"  Wonder  if  the  infraction  has 
been  among  the  beasts  of  the  field  and  forest,  and 
the  birds  of  the  air  ? 

II.  The  question  naturally  arises,  how  has  God 
imparted  His  will  to  man  and  beast  ? 

We  have  been  taught  to  call  that  instinct  which 
guides  and  controls  the  animal  and  fowl.  They 
enter  this  world  fully  possessed  of  this  infixed  prin- 
ciple. The  robin  one  year  old  will  build  a  nest  as 
complete  as  that  built  by  one  ten  times  that  age. 
The  pheasant,  under  its  controlling  power,  will  flut- 
ter and  limp  as  if  badly  crippled,  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  hunter  from  her  little  brood.  And 
they  only  a  few  days,  or,  perhaps,  but  a  few  hours 
from  their  egg  shell  home,  readily  distinguish 
between  the  cry  of  alarm  and  the  call  to  dinner  by 
the  mother  bird. 

Many  other  illustrations  might  be  given  but  these 
suffice  to  show  the  working  of  that  principle  by 
which  beast  and  bird  are  guided  and  protected. 

Now  what  naturalists  term  instinct  in  animals  and 
fowls  may  well  be  styled  the  will  of  God  impressed 
on  their  nature. 

And  this  principle  by  which  they  are  guided  and 
protected,  admits  no  improvement,  as  before  stated. 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD, 


381 


"The  hive  of  the  "bee  and  the  house  of  the  beaver 

are  no  "better  than  they  were  a  thousand  years  ago." 

But  the  principle  "by  which  man  is  directed  and 
protected  is  very  different.  The  rule  designed  for 
his  guidance  is  not  inborn.  But  it  has  been  revealed 
to  him  and  must  therefore  be  learned  by  him. 

Conscience,  therefore,  if  innate,  as  some  affirm, 
cannot  be  that  rule.  And  if  it  be  a  creature  of  edu- 
cation, as  claimed  by  others,  it  cannot  be  a  correct 
guide  unless  it,  itself,  be  correctly  guided.  Just  as 
is  the  education  which  it  receives  will  be  its  dictates. 
Like  a  finger-board  on  a  pivot,  which  points  in  what- 
ever direction  the  wind  blows,  conscience  points  or 
dictates  this  way  or  that,  according  to  the  education 
it  has  received.  Hence  a  Catholic's  conscience  points 
one  way  and  that  of  a  Protestant  another  way.  A 
Mormon's  conscience  dictates  to  him  that  Polygamy 
is  right.  Your  conscience  dictates  that  it  is  wrong. 
The  conscience  of  the  Friend,  (Quaker)  leads  him 
to  ignore  Water  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper 
entirely,  while  the  conscience  of  his  neighbor  regards 
both  these  institutions  highly  important. 

Mr.  A's  conscience  approves  infant  church  mem- 
bership, but  Mr.  B's  conscience  condemns  it. 

The  fierce  opposition  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  to  Christ 
and  his  earnest  advocacy  of  Christianity  after  he 
had  abandoned  the  Jewish  religion  and  embraced  the 
Christian,  strikingly  illustrates  the  mutable  char- 
acter of  conscience.  With  the  education  and  mind 
of  an  individual  changed,  his  conscience  will  con- 
demn what  it  had  previously  sanctioned,  and  ap- 
prove what  it  had  before  condemned. 


382 


TIIJ£  IOWA  PULPIT. 


The  case  of  Saul  also  shows  that  being  conscien- 
tious in  a  matter  does  not  necessarily  make  that 
matter  right.  If  indeed,  honesty  makes  a  thing 
right,  then  Saul's  killing  Christians  was  right.  Said 
he,  "  I  verily  thought  with  myself  that  I  ought  to  do 
many  things  contrary  to  the  name  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth"  (Acts  26:9).  "I  have  lived  in  all  good 
conscience  before  God  until  this  day  "  (Act.  23 : 1). 

But  you  ask,  "Do  not  the  Scriptures  somewhere 
say,  '  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he  ?' " 
The  language  of  Solomon  respecting  the  evil  ruler  is, 
"  For  as  he  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he  "  (Prov. 
23:7). 

Well,  suppose  a  man  thinks  in  his  heart  wrong,  is 
he  not  therefore  wrong  ?  Can  a  thought  that  is  incor- 
rect in  a  man's  heart,  no  matter  how  honest  that 
thought  is,  make  the  man  right  in  wha  t  he  thinks  ?  If  a 
man  wishes  to  go  to  California,  but  takes  a  train  east- 
ward bound,  does  his  thinking  that  he  is  traveling- 
westward,  make  it  so  ?  Does  his  feeling  that  the  train 
is  running  westward,  change  the  direction  of  that 
train  from  east  to  west  ?  When  the  sons  of  Jacob 
brought  to  him  their  brother  Joseph's  coat,  besmear- 
ed with  the  kid's  blood,  into  which  they  had  dipped 
it,  he  felt  sure  that  his  beloved  boy  had  been  slain 
by  the  wild  beasts.  He  felt  that  way  because  he 
thought  that  way.  When  he  learned  that  Joseph 
was  alive,  his  feelings  at  once  were  changed. 

The  Hindoo  mother  smiles  as  she  beholds  the  huge 
crocodile  devour  her  child  which  she  throws  into  the 
river.  Do  you  say  her  heart  is  not  right  ?  That  what 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD. 


383 


she  needs  is  a  change  of  heart  ?  But,  let  us  enquire, 
is  the  trouble  with  her  heart  ?  Is  her  heart  not  honest  ? 
Would  you  have  her  heart  changed  from  an  honest 
heart  to  a  dishonest  one  ?  Let  me  assure  you  that 
the  trouble  is  in  her  head  rather  than  in  her  heart. 
She  laughs  as  the  sea  monster  destroys  her  child  be- 
cause she  makes  the  sacrifice  as  an  act  of  duty  and 
worship  to  appease  the  supposed  wrath  of  her 
heathen  god. 

Enlighten  that  heathen  mother's  mind,  change  her 
way  of  thinking,  or,  in  other  words,  get  her  head 
right,  and  she  will  no  longer  follow  such  a  custom, 
much  less  experience  pleasure  in  such  a  practice. 

Since  then  the  human  conscience  and  human  feel- 
ings are  as  versatile  as  the  fingerboard  on  a  pivot, 
therefore,  as  the  fingerboard  must  be  spiked  fast,  so 
as  to  guide  the  traveler  in  the  right  way,  so  must  the 
human  conscience  be  spiked  fast,  as  it  were,  that  is, 
it  must  be  made  to  point  in  the  right  direction,  and 
in  the  right  direction  only,  in  order  that  it  may  be  a 
reliable  guide  from  earth  to  heaven. 

Now,  evidently  the  conscience  points  in  the  right 
direction,  when  it  points  or  dictates  according  to 
God's  revealed  or  expressed  will.  The  will  of  God 
is  that  with  which  the  conscience  must  be  spiked. 
Any  thing  that  man  thinks,  says  or  does,  that  is 
contrary  to  God's  will,  concerning  him,  must  cer- 
tainly be  wrong. 

Let  us  ask  then,  where  may  we  find  God's  will, 
concerning  man,  expressed?  Obviously, His  will  is 
set  forth  in  His  word.    If  you  command  your  son  to 


384 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


do  certain  tilings,  and  not  to  do  others,  your  instruc- 
tions embrace  your  will,  unless  you  mean  to  deal  un- 
fairly with  your  son. 

When  God  said  to  Adam,  "  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of 
the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,"  he  cer- 
tainly willed  that  Adam  should  not  eat.  Otherwise, 
Adam  in  breaking  the  command  did  God's  will ;  and 
not  only  so,  but  the  Lord  punished  Adam  for  doing 
His  wiil. 

But  the  question  returns,  where  may  the  Lord's 
will  respecting  mankind  be  found?  If  embodied 
in  His  word,  where  then  may  we  find  His  word? 

The  Christian,  at  least,  answers,  in  the  Bible.  In- 
deed, he  affirms  and  teaches  that  the  Bible  is  God's 
word.  Though  it  contains  the  sayings  of  bad  men, 
and  even  of  Satan  himself,  yet  as  a  whole,  it  is  God's 
wTord.  A  good  man  may  in  his  testimony  in  court, 
in  any  given  case,  embrace  the  oaths  of  some  wicked 
person,  yet  the  testimony  as  a  whole  is  his  own. 

III.  There  are  two  grand  divisions  of  God's  word. 
The  former  embraces  a  period  of  time  reaching  from 
man's  creation  to  the  birth  of  Christ.  The  latter  in- 
cludes that  period  of  the  world's  history  that  began 
at  the  birth  of  the  world's  Redeemer.  Now  as  the 
first  of  these  two  grand  divisions  of  God's  word  em- 
bodies His  will  respecting  those  who  lived  before 
Christ  or  in  Olden  Times,  it  is  termed  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. The  second  division,  embracing  God's  will 
concerning  man,  in  what  is  called  the  Christian  Dis- 
pensation, is  termed  the  New  Testament.  While  both 
Testaments  are  divine,  only  the  New  is  now  in  force. 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD. 


385 


Though  the  New  contains  much  of  the  Old,  yet  the 
making  and  ratifying  of  the  New  has  abrogated  the 
Old.  Just  as  the  adoption  of  a  new  constitution  for 
a  State  annuls  the  old  constitution  of  that  State. 

Thus  taught  Paul.  In  speaking  of  Christ  in  con- 
nection with  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  he  says, 
"He  taketh  away  the  first  that  he  may  establish 
the  second  "  (Heb.  10 : 9).  He  also  says,  "  In  that  he 
saith,  A  new  covenant,  he  hath  made  the  first  old — 
Now  that  which  deca}reth  and  waxeth  old,  is  ready 
to  vanish  away  "  (Heb.  8 : 13). 

Moses  was  Mediator  of  the  Old  Covenant,  Testa- 
ment or  Will.  Christ  is  Mediator  of  the  New.  In 
Hebrews,  9th  chapter,  Paul  tells  us  that  Moses  dedi- 
cated the  Old  Testament  with  the  blood  of  animals. 
And  in  the  same  connection  we  learn  that  Christ 
dedicated  the  New  Testament  with  His  own  blood. 
Indeed,  in  order  to  establish  the  New  Testament,  or 
if  you  please,  to  make  the  New  Covenant,  or  Will, 
the  death  of  Christ  was  necessary.  Hence,  Paul 
says,  "  For  where  a  Testament  is,  there  must  also 
of  necessity,  be  the  death  of  the  testator."  It  was  not, 
however,  until  after  His  death  that  His  Testament  or 
Will  came  into  force.  Hear  the  apostle  again. 
"  For  a  testament  is  of  force  after  men  are  dead ; 
otherwise  it  is  of  no  strength  at  all,  while  the  testa- 
tor liveth"  (Heb.  9  : 17).  Was  not  Christ  living  when 
He  commanded  the  rich  man  "To  sell  whatever 
He  had  and  give  to  the  poor  ?"  When  he  said  to  the 
man  sick  of  the  palsy,  "  thy  sins-  be  forgiven  thee  ? " 

And  was  he  not  living  when  he  said  to  the  thief  on 
25 


386  THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 

the  cross,  "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  para- 
dise?" 

Sinner  friend,  why  say  that  you  desire  to  be  saved 
like  the  thief  was.  Admitting  that  the  thief  s  re- 
quest and  Christ's  answer  indicate  his  salvation,  you 
should  never  become  a  thief  nor  ask  for  a  repetition 
of  the  bloody  scenes  of  Calvary.  And  all  these 
would  have  to  occur  again  that  you  might  realize 
your  unreasonable  wish.  For  the  curious  it  is  now 
stated  that  even  the  Apostles  had  no  higher  concep- 
tion of  Christ  than  that  He  had  come  to  establish 
and  rule  in  an  earthly  kingdom.  Their  hopes  there- 
fore of  filling  important  places  in  His  kingdom  died 
in  them  when  Jesus  died  on  the  cross.  They  re- 
turned to  their  old  avocation  of  fishing.  It  is  not 
probable,  therefore,  that  the  thief  had  a  more  cor- 
rect view  of  Christ's  mission  than  they  had,  or  that 
he  had  even  as  good  an  understanding  of  Christ's 
work. 

His  hope  was  that  Christ,  who  had  declared  his 
bility  to  lay  down  his  life  and  also  to  take  it  again, 
would  establish  an  earthly  kingdom  and  would  as- 
sign him  some  important  station  in  that  kingdom. 

The  nature  of  his  request,  and  that  of  Christ's 
answer,  together  with  the  fact  that,  after  His  resur- 
rection, Jesus  declared  to  Mary  that  He  had  not  yet 
ascended  to  heaven  (John  20 : 17),  stoutly  oppose  the 
popular  view.  But  let  this  be  as  it  may,  the  New 
Testament  or  Will  was  not  in  force  till  after  Christ's 
death. 

The  St.  Croix  river  is  a  boundary  line  between 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD. 


887 


New  Brunswick  and  Maine.  Where  the  one  ends 
the  other  begins.  Christ's  death  divides  between 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  On  the  banks  of 
St.  Croix  stands  a  marble  slab.  One  side  of  which 
contains  the  words,  "  The  Queen's  Dominion,"  and 
the  other  side,  "The  United  States."  And  it  is 
written  on  one  side  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  it  may  be 
said,  Moses  and  the  Law,  and  on  the  other  side, 
Christ  and  the  Gospel. 

Christ,  not  Moses,  must  be  heard  now.  On  the 
mount  of  transfiguration  attention  was  directed  to 
him  in  these  words :  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son  in 
whom  I  am  well  pleased,  hear  ye  Him."  He  is  that 
Prophet  referred  to  in  Deut.  18th  chapter,  and  in 
Acts,  3d  chdpter,  whom  the  people  must  hear  under 
the  penalty  of  death. 

Mankind  must  now  consult  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
on  the  question  of  salvation.  Paul  styles  it  the 
gospel  of  salvation  (Ephesians  1 : 13). 

The  Author  of  heaven's  last  will  to  our  race,  after 
sealing  it  with  His  own  precious  blood,  commis- 
sioned His  chosen  apostles  forty  days  subsequent 
to  His  resurrection  and  just  prior  to  His  ascension, 
to  go  and  publish  His  will  to  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  In  other  words,  to  preach  His  gospel  to  every 
creature  (Matt.  23 : 19;  Mark.  16 : 15,  16). 

That  the  chosen  heralds  of  the  Divine  Will  might 
not  err  in  the  important  work  assigned  them, 
they  were  in  due  time  miraculously  qualified  for 
and  guided  in  their  work  (John  14 : 26—16 : 1 3 ;  Luke 
24:49;  Acts  2:4). 


388 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Acts  of  Apostles  is  a  record  of  the  preaching  and 
practice  of  those  lirst  ministers  of  the  gospel  in  con- 
verting men  and  women  to  Christ.  As  God  wills 
that  every  person  who  is  not  a  Christian  become 
one,  His  will  as  to  the  way  every  such  person  is  to 
become  a  Christian  is  plainly  expressed  in  Acts  of 
Apostles. 

The  way  that  every  responsible  person  who  is  not 
a  Christian  is  to  become  one  is  implicit  faith  in  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  and  an  unreserved  obedience 
to  what  is  positively  commanded  the  believer  in 
Jesus  to  do.  To  become  a  Christian  a  man  must 
first  believe  " with  the  heart"  (Rom.  10:10).  And 
then  "  obey  from  the  heart,"  that  form  of  doctrine 
which  the  apostles  delivered.  The  doctrine  deliv- 
ered was  the  death,  burial  and  resurrection  of  Christ 
(1  Cor.  15 :  3,  4). 

The  form  is  the  sinner's  death  to  sin,  his  symbolic 
burial  and  resurrection  with  Christ  (Rom.  6 : 1-18). 

Believing  alone  then  will  not  constitute  a  man  a 
Christian,  any  more  than  believing  in  Free  Ma- 
sonry will  make  a  man  a  Free  Mason.  There  is  an 
organic  law  of  admission  with  which  an  individual 
must  comply  in  order  to  be  a  Mason.  Even  so  there 
is  an  organic  law  that  the  believer  in  Christ  must 
comply  with  in  order  to  become  a  Christian.  We 
learn  in  Heb.  11 :  29,  "  That  the  Israelites  passed 
through  the  Red  sea  by  faith."  They  did  so  by  faith 
when  they  exercised  their  faith  in  obeying  the  com- 
mand of  God  to  "go  forward" — that  is,  to  pass 
through  the  channel  which  the  Almighty  had  opened 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD. 


389 


up  for  them.  It  would  "be  well  for  humanity  if  God's 
will  was  properly  understood  and  duly  respected  at 
this  point.  A  distinguished  Revivalist  said  publicly 
not  long  since,  "I  will  tell  you,  my  hearers,  how  to 
become  a  Christian.  Get  down  upon  your  knees 
and  ask  God  to  make  you  a  Christian,  and  when  you 
arise  believe  that  God  has  done  what  you  asked  Him 
to  do,  and  it  will  be  so." 

Now  while  prayer  must  not  be  depreciated,  against 
such  an  abuse  of  it  there  should  ever  be  an  earnest 
protest.  Like  other  items  in  the  economy  of  salva- 
tion it  has  its  restrictions  and  limits.  To  become  a 
Christian  God  wills  that  a  man  shall  do  as  well  as 
pray  (Matt.  7 : 21). 

To  ask  for  any  blessing  and  refuse  to  do  what  the 
Lord  commands  as  a  condition  of  that  blessing  is 
to  ask  contrary  to  God's  will  (I  John  5  : 14).  Between 
the  sinner  and  the  promise  of  salvation  from  sin, 
forgiveness  of  sins,  commonly  called  pardon,  God 
has  interposed  "obedience  to  the  faith,"  as  well  as 
faith  itself. 

To  say,  therefore,  that  if  a  man  will  ask  God  to 
make  him  a  Christian  and  then  only  believe  that 
the  Lord  has  forgiven  his  sins,  and  it  will  surely  be 
so,  is  as  if  Moses  had  said  to  the  Israelites,  God  can 
and  will  save  you  on  this  side  of  the  Red  sea  as  well 
as  on  the  other.  It  is  true,  He  commands  you  to 
pass  through  the  opened  channel  i  r  t  o  the  wilderness, 
but  it  is  not  essential  to  obey  the  command. 

Ask  God  to  save  you  and  then  believe  you  are 
saved,  and  you  will  be  saved  whether  you  go  for- 
ward or  not. 


390 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


IV.  Then  let  me  kindly  say  to  you,  my  uncon- 
verted friend,  if  you  are  not  a  believer,  God's  will  is 
that  you  believe  (Acts  16  : 30,  32).  If  you  already 
believe  in  Christ,  as  did  the  Pentecostians,  then 
God's  will  respecting  you  is,  that  you  do  as  they 
were  commanded  to  do  (Acts  2:38).  The  devout 
Cornelius  prayed  to  know  what  to  do  to  be  saved 
(Acts  10  : 6  ;  Acts  11 : 14).  Saul  the  chief  of  sinners, 
prayed  to  know  the  Lord's  will  respecting  him  (Acts 
9 : 6).  Peter,  who  had  already  published  the  will 
that  his  Divine  Master  had  made  and  afterwards 
had  sealed  with  His  own  precious  blood,  to  the  Jews 
in  Jerusalem  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  made  known 
that  will  to  the  honest  enquiring  Cornelius  (Acts 
10:47,  48).  Annanias  was  sent  to  read  the  Lord's 
will  to  Saul  (Acts  22 : 16).  Had  Saul  answered  An- 
nanias? Why  Abraham,  Joshua,  the  man  sick  of 
the  palsy,  and  the  thief  on  the  cross  were  saved 
without  this  that  you  command  me  to  do ;  his  rea- 
soning would  have  been  like  that  of  the  man  who 
contended  that  horse  stealing  is  still  punishable  by 
hanging,  because  it  was  that  way  once  under  the  old 
constitutions  of  some  of  the  States.  Suppose  that 
Saul  and  Cornelius,  had  refused  to  obey,  then  their 
every  prayer  after  that  would  have  been  an  abomi- 
nation to  the  Lord. 

The  psalmist  says,  "  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect 
converting  the  soul." 

"  The  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus"  that 
made  Paul  a  free  man  (Rom.  8 : 2),  is  evidently  the 
gospel  of  Christ.  It  is  God's  power  to  save  and  of 
course  His  power  to  convert. 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


391 


But,  "He  that  turneth  away  his  ear  from  hearing 
the  law  even  his  prayer  shall  he  an  abomination." 
(Prov.  38 :  9). 

Then  let  me  entreat  you  to  yield  the  obedience  the 
law  of  the  spirit  requires.  Turn  not  away  from  the 
mild  mandates  of  heaven's  King.  If  you  want  to 
know  what  to  do,  refer  to  the  will  of  Christ  as  pub- 
lished by  the  Apostles  and  recorded  in  Acts. 

An  angel  from  heaven,  or  God  Himself,  speaking 
directly  to  you,  would  not  violate  the  will  that  Jesus 
died  to  establish.  It  will  not,  it  cannot  be  broken. 
You  and  your  interests  are  embraced  in  that  will. 
Because  Christ  tasted  death  for  every  man.  O 
then,  as  you  value  life,  trifle  not  with  your  interests. 
O,  let  me  entreat  you,  by  all  you  esteem  near  and 
dear,  in  the  name  of  Him  who  suffered,  bled  and 
died  to  save  you,  by  His  dying  agonies  on  the  cross, 
by  His  triumphant  resurrection  from  the  dead,  and 
by  His  glorious  coronation  in  the  heavens,  not  to 
resist  the  will  of  God's  beloved  Son.  But  cheerfully 
comply  with  its  conditions  that  you  may  even  in 
this  life  be  blessed  as  none  can  be  who  live  in  dis- 
obedience to  Him  who  has  been  appointed  Judge  of 
the  living  and  the  dead. 

V.  God  wills  that  every  one  who  becomes  a 
Christian  shall  live  a  Christian's  life,  and  ultimately 
receive  a  Christian's  reward.  His  revealed  will  as 
to  how  His  children  may  do  the  one  and  obtain  the 
other  is  found  in  the  twenty-one  epistles,  all  of 
which  were  written  by  the  Apostles  to  members  of 
the  Church  of  Christ.    My  dear  brother  in  Christ,  do 


392 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


you  desire  and  do  you  pray  for  a  home  in  heaven  ? 
Then  fail  not  to  respect,  honor  and  observe  the  will 
of  your  Divine  Master.  Do  not  turn  away  from  the 
law  of  the  Christian's  King.  "If  a  man  also  strive 
for  masteries,  yet  is  he  not  crowned,  except  he  strive 
lawfully  "  (2  Tim.  2 :  5).  Though  like  the  Israelites 
when  they  entered  the  wilderness,  and  like  the 
Ethiopian  nobleman,  you  were  enabled  to  rejoice 
when  you  entered  the  church,  remember  "  Ye  have 
need  of  patience,  that,  after  ye  have  done  the  will 
of  God,  ye  might  receive  the  promise  "  (Heb.  10 : 36). 
You  are  promised  eternal  life.  And  here  is  the  law 
by  complying  with  which  you  are  to  obtain  it  (Rom. 
2:7;  Rom.  12  : 1,  2 ;  2  Peter  1 : 4,  11 ;  Heb.  10 : 23,  29). 
In  the  language  of  God's  Holy  Word,  let  me  exhort 
you,  "  cast  not  away  therefore,  your  confidence 
which  hath  great  recompense  of  reward."  Jesus, 
your  elder  brother,  your  prophet,  your  priest  and 
your  king,  says,  "  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and 
I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life." 


R.  H.  JOHNSON. 


TCHARD  HENRY  JOHNSON,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  son  of  John  and  Martha,  (the  latter  ?» 
daughter  of  R.  B.  McCorkle,  one  of  the  pioneer 
Christian  preachers  of  Illinois),  was  born  at  Wash- 
ington, 111.,  March  2d,  1835.  He  *pent  his  childhood 
on  a  farm,  passing  through  the  usual  experiences  of 
work  in  summer  and  school  in  winter,  common  to  all 
lads  reared  in  the  West  during  those  years. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  became  a  Christian ;  and  at  once 
began  to  take  part  in  the  public  worship  of  the  saints.  He 
was  partially  educated  at  Eureka  College,  but  was  graduated 
from  Bethany  College,  July  4th,  1859. 

On  returning  home  he  went  to  Eureka  College  as  Professor, 
entering  upon  the  work  in  1860,  and  continuing  three  years. 
During  this  time  he  was  married— 1862—  to  Miss  Susan  S. 
Smith,  of  Bridgewater,  Vt. 

'  In  1864,  he  removed  to  Williamsville,  N.  Y.,  and  was  princi- 
pal of  Williamsville  Classical  Institute  for  two  years,  having 
among  his  pupils  Mary  Graybriel,  now  Missionary  in  India. 

From  thence  he  removed  to  Lock  Haven,  Pa.,  taking  charge 
of  the  church,  and  continuing  pastor  for  three  years,  when  he 
again  returned  to  Illinois,  and  preached  for  a  time  for  the 
churches  at  Tallula  and  Matamora. 

In  the  spring  of  1878,  he  removed  to  Oskaloosa,  Iowa.  In 
January,  1880,  he  became  pastor  of  the  church  there,  and  in 
the  autumn  of  1881,  became  Professor  in  the  College.  And  in 
1883  was  advanced  to  the  position  of  President  of  Oskaloosa 
College,  which  office  he  now  holds. 

393 


394 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


He  is  a  brother  of  B.  W.  Johnson,  editor  of  the  Christian. 

Evangelist.    Resides  on  a  valuable  farm,  near  the  city  of  Oska- 
loosa ;  has  a  good  home  and  a  happy  family. 

In  personal  appearance,  he  is  about  five  feet  seven  or  eight 
inches  in  height,  weighs  about  135  pounds,  light  complexioned, 
blue  eyes,  and  an  unassuming  carriage.  He  is  kind,  and 
benevolent,  sociable  and  fraternal;  ever  ready  to  do  a  favor, 
and  make  sacrifice  for  the  promotion  of  a  worthy  object. 

As  a  speaker,  he  is  rhetorical  rather  than  logical  or  critical, 
yet  moves  along  ever  in  the  path  of  pure  sentiment  and 
scholarly  diction. 

He  is  regarded  to  be  a  good  preacher,  a  good  educator,  (his  • 
pupils  praise  him)  and  a  good  man  by  those  who  know  him 
best.   Long  may  he  live  to  help  along  the  cause,  in  which  he 
is  a  willing  and  clever  worker. 

[The  foregoing  exhausts  the  data  furnished,  but  we  feel  sure 
that  it  falls  below  a  real  exhibit  of  this  good  man.] — Editor. 


« 


TEE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST. 


BY  E.  H.  JOHNSON. 


"And  now  I  say  unto  you,  refrain  from  these  men  and  let 
them  alone,  for  if  this  counsel  or  this  work  be  of  men  it  will 
come  to  nought,  but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot  overthrow  it, 
lest  haply  ye  be  found  to  fight  even  against  God." — Acts  5: 
38,  39. 

HIS  is  the  eminently  wise  and  moderate  ad- 
vice of  Gamaliel,  a  very  wise  and  tolerant 
rabbi,  to  bis  fellow  members  of  the  Jewish 
sanhedrim,  when  in  the  heat  of  passion  they 
were  about  to  slay  the  apostles.  It  is  the 
language  of  implicit  faith  in  an  overruling  Pro- 
vidence in  the  ultimate  overthrow  of  evil  and  the 
triumph  of  truth  and  right. 

It  may  be  regarded  as  an  early  declaration  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 

We  hear  this  phrase  in  very  current  use  in  our 
day,  and  the  doctrine  is  popularly  supposed  to  be 
of  very  recent  origin.  This  may  be  true  in  its  nar- 
row application  to  the  science  of  evolution,  but  in 
its  broader,  more  comprehensive  sense,  it  is  old  as 
faith  in  God. 

395 


396 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


TVliether  the  doctrine  of  evolution  is  true  or  false, 
matters  not  to  our  discussion.  It  is  an  ingenious 
theory,  but  whether  it  shall  ever  rest  on  the  solid 
ground  of  undisputed  scientific  truth  is,  to  say  the 
least,  somewhat  problematical.  That  it  yet  lacks 
in  completeness  of  proof  many  of  its  most  earnest 
advocates  admit.  That  it  is  a  false  theory  many 
eminent  scientists  declare.  That  it  cannot  rank  as 
demonstrated  scientific  truth  is  evident  to  all  of 
candor.  To  do  this,  it  must  (1)  be  consistent  with 
all  the  facts  submitted  to  it  and  contradicted  by 
none.  (2)  It  must  fully  explain  all  facts  referred  to 
it.  (3)  These  facts  must  be  explicable  on  no  other 
hypothesis.  No  one  believes  that  the  evolution 
theory  can  withstand  these  tests.  Hence,  all  that 
can  be  said  of  it  is,  that  it  is  an  ingenious  theory, 
not  undisputed  scientific  truth. 
'  Darwin,  the  gifted  author  of  this  theory,  dwells 
largely  on  the  selection  which  man  makes  in  order 
to  produce  new  breeds  of  domestic  animals,  and 
supposes  a  similar  selection  to  take  place  in  nature 
in  the  struggle  for  life  which  all  plants  and  animals 
must  undergo.  Very  good !  But  in  so  doing,  ob- 
serve, that  he  makes  the  intelligence  of  man  a  most 
important  factor  in  the  domestic  evolution.  Can 
this  factor  of  intelligence  be  ignored  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  broader  field  of  nature  ? 

Accepting  the  element  of  intelligent  supervision 
which  Darwin  has  himself  put  in,  there  is  manifest 
truth  in  the  theory  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  as 
applied  to  plants  and  animals,  and  he  only  differs 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST. 


397 


from  the  distinguished  Hebrew  teacher  in  the  nar- 
rowness of  his  application,  while  that  of  Gamaliel 
is  eminently  "broad,  and  in  harmony  with  the  con- 
viction that  is  coming  to  the  minds  of  thinkers  that, 
herein  is  involved  a  law  which  appertains  n  it  simply 
to  plants  and  animals,  but  which  alike  holds  sway 
in  the  physical,  the  intellectual,  and  the  moral 
worlds. 

We  witness  on  every  hand  incessant  change,  re- 
morseless destruction,  tireless  reconstruction.  Thus 
sings  the  putter  as  with  magic  skill  he  shapes  his 
clay  upon  the  flying  wheel. 

"Turn,  turn  my  wheel !  all  things  must  change, 
To  something  new,  to  something  strange, 
Nothing  that  is  can  pause  or  stay : 
The  moon  will  wax,  the  moon  will  wane, 
The  mist  and  cloud  will  turn  to  rain, 
The  rain  to  mist  and  cloud  again, 
To-morrow  be  to-day." 

As  in  this  ceaseless  round  of  change,  by  the  ravages 
of  time  much  of  man's  upbuilding  is  swept  away, 
only  those  structures  best  fitted  to  resist  the  destroy- 
ing elements  enduring,  so,  everywhere,  fitness  of 
some  kind  is  the  secret  of  survivals.  The  history  of 
human  progress  is  replete  with  illustrations  in  point. 

The  bow  and  spear,  like  the  Parthian  archers  and 
the  Macedonian  phalanx  that  respectively  used 
them  with  such  skill,  have  gone  down  before  the 
fitter  modern  engines  of  death. 

This,  it  might  be  suggested,  is  a  case  of  the  sur- 
vival of  the  unfittest.    I  think  not.    The  tnore  de- 


398 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


structive  the  implements  of  war,  the  less  readily 

will  men  be  involved  in  its  horrors.  Let  these  he- 
come  so  deadilv  that  their  use  will  amount  to  anni- 
hilation, and  international  quarrels  will  he  adjusted 
by  wiser  and  human  tr  methods  than  the  diabolical 
code  of  war. 

The  armor  of  the  old-time  warrior  no  longer  en- 
cumbers the  person,  yet,  in  another  form,  it  survives 
in  the  encasement  of  the  ship. 

From  the  ancient  loom,  a  rude  contrivance  of 
sticks  and  strings,  has  been  evolved  the  clanking 
wonder  of  automatic  working  we  see  to-day. 

The  plow,  from  its  rudimentary  state  as  a  forked 
stick,  has,  by  the  process  of  a  thousand  selections 
and  survivals  of  the  fittest,  evolved  that  implement 
with  share  of  shining  steel  that  is  so  necessary  a 
factor  in  the  tillage  of  the  soil. 

The  lyre,  as  fashioned  of  tortoise  shell  and  reed 
canes  and  cords  by  the  infant  Hermes,  has  under- 
gone many  a  modification  to  its  completed  evolution 
in  that  wonderful  instrument,  of  exquisite  workmen- 
ship  and  scientific  skill,  the  modern  piano. 

In  the  struggle  for  life  many  books  disappear,  or 
become  rare.  The  popular  fallacy  is  that  a  rare 
book  must  be  a  valuable  one.  but  the  reverse  is  the 
case.  Books  become  rare  because  they  are  not 
wanted.  The  Bible,  Paradise  Lost,  Shakespeare,  do 
not  become  rare.    The  fittest  survive. 

Many  are  the  changes  which  have  been  evolved 
within  our  memories.  The  lumbering  old  stage 
coach  has  been  frightened  to  the  wilderness  by  the 
shriek  of  the  locomotive. 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST.  399 

The  galloping  courier  has  heen  distanced  by  the 
iron  horse,  or  annihilated  along  with  space  and  time, 
by  the  lightning  winged  messenger.  The  tallow 
candle,  that  once  served  to  make  darkness  visible, 
has  been  snuffed  out  to  make  way  for  kerosene  and 
gas,  and  these  are  paling  their  ineffectual  fires  before 
the  dazzling  beams  of  the  electric  light. 

We  call  this  the  iron  age  in  contrast  with  the  ante- 
cedent evolutions  of  stone  and  bronze,  but  while  we 
speak,  under  the  magic  of  a  Bessemer,  it  has  as- 
sumed a  new  phase ;  it  is  the  age  of  steel.  There 
are  those  who,  taking  a  pessimistic  view,  and  prat- 
ing of  the  physical  degeneracy  and  decay  of  the 
times,  tell  us  that  the  human  race  is  on  the  retro- 
grade. 

What  with  the  intellectual  craze  and  books  and 
papers  and  schools  the  race  is  dying  out.  That 
the  Americans,  especially,  under  these  enervating 
influences  are  becoming,  like  the  conies,  a  feeble 
folk.  "  Why  is  it,"  say  they,  "  that  literary  pur- 
suits are  enfeebling  the  muscles  and  shortening  the 
lives  of  thousands  ?  Why  is  it  that  the  finest  intel- 
lectual culture  cannot  exist  along  with  the  noblest 
physical  development?"  "Why  is  it,"  said  the 
witty  Charles  II.  to  his  philosophers,  "  that  if  you 
put  a  live  trout  into  a  pail  filled  with  water  it  does 
not  overflow?"  We  all  know  the  sequel.  That, 
after  reasons  many  and  profound,  upon  the  actual 
trial,  the  fallacy  of  the  hypothesis  was  manifest, 
much  to  the  discomfiture  of  the  philosophers.  How 
easy  it  is  to  accept  a  false  proposition  and  then  ap- 
ply all  the  powers  of  logic  to  explain  it  I 


400 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


I  know  the  traditional  picture  of  a  scholar  is  of  a 
pale,  stooping,  cadaverous,  dyspeptic,  book-worm. 
But  does  this  disparagement  rest  on  a  basis  of  fact  ? 

We  know  something  of  the  red  men  of  the  West ; 
that  they  were  never  enfeebled  by  mental  culture  ; 
yet  they  are  being  swept  away  by  disease  like 
leaves  before  the  storm.  We  have  heard  of  the 
gigantic  strength  and  vigor  of  the  ancient  knights, 
and  we  know  that  they  were  not  enervated  by  intel- 
lectual pursuits.  Their  suits  of  armor  that  have 
come  down  to  us  are  so  small  that  we,  of  these  de- 
generate days,  cannot  get  into  them. 

In  the  Tower  of  London  are  numerous  swords  that 
rhe  Vikings  of  the  jNorh,  a  thousand  years  ago, 
wielded  with  such  terrific  effect,  as  they  swept  the 
seas  and  plundered  the  coasts  of  Europe,  and 
scarcely  a  sword  hilt  is  large  enough  for  the  grasp 
of  the  hand  of  the  man  of  our  day. 

No  fact  is  better  established  tibai  that  shown  by 
insivrance  tables  of  a  steady  increase  of  years  just 
as  the  census  tables  show  a  dimunition  of  illiteracy. 
The  records  of  Geneva  show  that  in  A.  D.  1600,  the 
average  duration  of  life  was  thirteen  years  and  three 
months,  and  that  with  advancing  knowledge,  there 
has  been  a  steady  increase  of  years  to  an  average  of 
more  than  thrice  the  early  records. 

But  come  to  our  own  country.  To  the  people,  who, 
according  to  Herbert  Spencer,  are  wearing  out  by 
their  high-pressure  life.  And,  in  this  paradise  for 
books  and  newspapers  and  schools,  longevity  is  just 
as  conspicuous  as  is  exemption  from  illiteracy. 


THE  SUEVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST.  401 

"With  a  climate  proverbially  rigorous  and  change- 
able, and  with  intellectual  excitements  at  fever  heat, 
the  health  of  Massachusetts  is  unequaled  by  that  of 
any  country  in  Europe.  The  foremost  educational 
institution  of  Massachusetts,  if  not  of  the  entire 
country,  is  Harvard  University.  Now,  while  the 
average  duration  of  life  in  that  state,  of  all  who  have 
reached  twenty,  is  the  very  high  period  of  fifty 
years,  that  of  the  Harvard  alumni  exceeds  this  by 
eight  years.  In  other  words,  the  highest  education 
possible  adds  eight  years  to  the  student's  life. 

Sometimes  the  youth  of  this  fast  age  says :  "  I 
have  not  time  to  secure  a  thorough  education."  Let 
him  be  assured  by  the  foregoing  facts,  that  the  years 
devoted  to  an  education  are  not  subtracted  from,  but 
added  to  the  term  of  life. 

Pursue  this  statistical  investigation  at  pleasure: 
Take  the  names  of  the  world's  intellectual  giants, 
compare  their  years  with  those  of  its  physical 
athletes,  and  the  conviction  will  be  forced  upon  you, 
that  education  and  physical  endurance  go  hand  in 
hand. 

That,  where  education  is  broad  and  generous, 
there  the  years  are  many  and  happy. 

And  now,  from  the  intellectual,  let  us  turn  to  the 
domain  of  morals  and  religion.  Wide  as  are  the 
grounds  of  difference,  Christian  theists  Avill  agree 
with  atheists  that  the  survival  of  the  fittest  is  a  law 
running  through  the  moral  world. 

It  becomes  therefore,  an  interesting  question  : 
What  shall  be  the  moral  evolution  of  the  ages? 

26 


402 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Shall  man,  suppressing  his  yearnings  for  immortal- 
ity, imbrute  his  nature  and  cease  to  be  a  worshiper  ? 

This  is  the  lofty  goal  of  human  progress,  if  we 
are  to  listen  to  the  disciples  of  Comte.  Accord- 
ing to  them,  the  human  mind  has  its  three  stages 
of  advancement :  the  theological ;  the  metaphysi- 
cal ;  the  positive ;  in  which  last  the  mind  abandons 
as  futile  both  theology  and  metaphysics,  and  gives 
itself  solely  to  the  study  of  phenomena.  To  this 
last  stage,  according  to  Comte,  Europe  a  generation 
ago  had  come.  Facts  and  philosophy,  however, 
both  contradict  this  view.  Nothing  stands  out  with 
greater  prominence  in  history  than  that  man  is  a 
religious  being. 

Whether  in  fetich  of  wood  and  stone,  in  Pagan 
temple,  in  Mohammedan  mosque,  or  in  Christian 
church,  in  some  way  the  fear,  or  reverence,  or  love 
of  a  higher  power  has  been  declared.  History  with 
a  thousand  tongues  proclaims :  man  is  by  nature  a 
religious  being. 

Take  the  philosophic  road  and  it  brings  us  to  the 
same  conclusion.  Man  has  a  conscience ;  the  power 
to  recognize  and  to  discriminate  between  the  right 
and  the  wrong.  No  animal  has  given  even  the  most 
rudimentary  evidence  of  intuition  of  right  and 
wrong  or  manifested  a  shadow  of  a  religious  nature. 
Man  is,  therefore,  separated  from  all  other  animal 
life  by  a  great  gulf  fixed,  over  which  it  is  impossible 
to  pass. 

Since  this  religious  factor  manifests  itself  in  all 
ages  and  conditions  of  the  people  of  earth,  it  is  as 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTK8T.  403 

absurd  and  unscientific  to  deny  it  as  to  deny  that 
man  has  an  intellect.  True  science  is  hound  to  ac- 
cept all  the  facts,  and  accepting  them,  to  endeavor 
to  explain  them. 

The  premise  therefore,  that  man  is  religious  by 
nature,  being  sustained  by  unimpeachable  proofs, 
it  follows  that  the  positivism  that  abandons  relig- 
ion as  futile,  will  never  command  a  wider  following 
than  that  of  a  few  philosophic  cranks,  and  that 
some  form  of  religion,  as  in  the  past,  will  prevail  to 
the  end. 

Even  Herbert  Spencer,  driven  by  the  logic  of 
facts,  and  recognizing  that  a  reverence  for  an  unseen 
power  arises  intuitively  in  the  soul,  says :  "  A  relig- 
ious system  is  a  normal  and  essential  factor  of  every 
organized  society." 

It  being  settled  then,  by  so  competent  an  author- 
ity, that  some  form  of  religion  must  survive  so  long 
as  the  faculties  of  man  exist,  it  becomes  a  question 
of  no  little  significance  as  to  what  that  form  shall 
be.  In  general  terms  we  have  already  foreshadowed 
the  answer. 

That  religion  best  fitted  to  meet  the  wants  of  man, 
as  shown  by  the  history  of  the  past  and  the  demands 
of  the  present  will  survive.  If  it  has  failed  to  re- 
spond to  the  inmost  wants  of  the  soul  it  must  per- 
ish. If,  however,  it  has  ennobled  and  blest,  its 
practical  workings  are  the  prophecy  of  its  endur- 
ance. "Ye  cannot  overthrow  it,  lest  haply  ye  be 
found  to  fight  even  against  God." 


404 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


The  light  of  religious  history  illumines  the  path- 
way of  the  future.  To  avail  ourselves  of  this  let  us 
mentally  stand  for  a  moment  within  the  world's 
great  capitol  amid  the  lengthening  shadows  of  the 
first  century  of  the  Christian  era  All  around  is  a 
scene  of  bewildering  splendor. 

Description  is  difficult  where  all  is  on  so  grand  a 
scale.  Within  a  circuit  of  less  than  a  score  of  miles 
are  more  than  two  millions  of  souls.  The  seven  hills 
that  have  become  so  famous,  are  lost  in  the  vast 
array  of  edifices  which  blot  out  every  feature  of  the 
ground.  Augustus  had  found  the  city  of  brick  and 
left  it  of  marble.  Enriched  by  the  spoils  of  con- 
quest, even  the  private  edifices  are  of  imperial  mag- 
nificence. The  Forum  is  lined  with  enormous  basil- 
icas and  adorned  with  triumphal  arches.  Glorious 
temples  to  the  immortal  gods  crown  the  Palatine, 
cluster  about  the  Capitoline,  or  are  sown  with  lav- 
ish hand  throughout  the  city ;  temples  whose  ruins 
will  excite  the  wonder  of  unborn  ages. 

Not  inferior  to  the  city  in  imposing  grandeur,  was 
the  religion  of  its  people.  This  was  clothed  in  all 
that  could  dazzle  the  eye  of  pomp  and  pageantry, 
all  that  could  excite  the  imagination,  in  what  Gib- 
bon calls  "  elegant  mythology,"  and  in  grand  and 
awful  mysteries.  The  loftiest  civil  honors  were 
thought  mean  in  contrast  with  the  grander 
emoluments  of  the  priestly  functions.  It  was  the 
religion  of  wealth,  and  culture,  and  honor,  and 
power,  and  fashion,  and  sensuality.  It  offered  every 
incentive  to  the  enravished  imagination  and  made 


THE  ST'RVrVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST. 


405 


no  rigorous  exactions  of  the  conscience.  Surely  if 
any  religion  shall  survive  the  wrecks  of  ages  this  is 
the  one. 

While  we  look  and  wonder,  a  band  of  soldiers 
emerges  from  the  palace  of  the  Csesars  which  in 
colossal  splendor  crowns  the  Palatine.  They  are 
leading  a  prisoner,  old,  infirm,  scarred,  and  in 
chains,  to  the  place  of  death.  His  crime,  the  preach- 
ing of  the  religion  of  a  crucified  Jewish  peasant. 
What  of  his  success  ?  Though  in  labors  more  abun- 
dant, to  the  eye  of  the  world  a  failure.  True,  he 
had  founded  a  few  churches,  but  some  of  these  were 
already  cold,  others  beset  by  ravenous  wolves,  all 
classed  as  the  very  off*scouring  of  the  earth  and 
torn  assunder  by  a  fiery  persecution,  which  has 
burst  upon  them  and  doomed  the  prisoner  to  die. 
To  the  faith  of  the  Crucified  the  world  is  utterly- 
hostile.  All  its  tremendous  powers,  intellectual, 
civil,  ecclesiastical,  all  in  arms  against  it.  The  very 
name  Christian  is  becoming  a  synonym  for  criminal, 
and  Jew  and  Pagan  vie  in  bitterness  of  opposition 
to  the  religion  of  the  prisoner. 

Which  religion  shall  survive  ?  Not  a  disinterested 
philosopher  in  a  thousand,  calmly  calculating  the 
chances  of  survival  in  the  struggle  for  life,  would 
have  pronounced  one  chance  in  a  thousand  for  the 
hated  and  persecuted  religion  of  the  prisoner.  To 
all  human  foresight,  the  religion  was  in  chains, 
doomed  to  death  as  well  as  its  representative. 

Now,  stepping  down  the  ages,  in  the  sunlight  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  look  abroad.  Where  are  the 


406 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


thronging  priests,  the  innumerable  votaries,  the 
wealth,  the  power,  the  splendors,  of  that  seemingly 
omnipotent  religion  ?  Gone  like  "The  air-built  castle, 
or  a  golden  dream." 

The  religion  of  ancient  Rome  has  not  a  representa- 
tive on  earth  to-day.  Its  every  altar  fire  has  ceased 
to  burn,  its  oracles  are  dumb,  it  boasts  no  temple,  no 
priest,  no  votary  on  earth;  while  the  despised 
religion,  doomed  to  death,  despite  human  and 
diabolical  malevolence,  has  reared  its  altars  in  every 
land.  To-day,  it,  ruling  an  ever  advancing  civiliza- 
tion, controls  the  mightiest  empires  of  earth,  and 
bathes  in  the  effulgence  of  its  glory,  a  new  world. 
To-day,  we  witness  a  Christian  civilization,  the  splen- 
dors of  whose  attainments  in  literature,  science  and 
art,  pale  the  brightness  of  all  preceding  ages. 

Such  are  the  astonishing  facts  that  confront  us. 
But  how  are  we  to  account  for  them  ?  How,  but  on 
the  basis  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  ?  the  religion  of 
pride  and  pomp  and  power,  whose  deities  were  the 
impersonations  of  rage  and  vengeance  and  lust — the 
religion  without  a  single  moral  precept — the  religion 
without  a  deed  of  charity  or  love,  has  gone  down  be- 
fore the  Gospel  of  love  and  sacrifice,  as  preached  by 
the  prisoner  in  chains.  Resistance  to  the  latter  was 
but  fighting  against  God.  Verily  "The  foolishness  of 
God  is  wiser  than  men  ;  and  the  weakness  of  God  is 
stronger  than  men." 

But, we  are  told  that  Christianity  is  dying  out.  That 
having  outlived  its  usefulness,  it  must  go  to  the  wall 
to  give  place  to  something  better  suited  to  the  age. 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST.  407 

Be  it  so.  If  there  "be  anything  better,  human  weal 
and  progress  alike  demand  it.  Let  us  cordially, 
joyfully,  welcome  it.  Nay,  if  the  theory  of  this  ser- 
mon is  correct,  its  coming  is  inevitable. 

But  what  is  the  name  of  this  superior  to  Christi- 
anity that  the  ages  have  evolved  ?  What  the  name  of 
this  supplanter  that  seeks  our  religious  birthright  ? 
It  cannot  be  the  positivism  of  which  I  have  already 
spoken.  Hear  its  eulogies  pronounced  by  one  of  its 
most  gifted  advocates  who  abandoned  Christianity 
for  its  superior  comforts :  "  When  I  think,  as  at  times 
I  must,  of  the  appalling  contest  between  the  hallowed 
glory  of  that  creed,  which  once  was  mine,  and  the 
lonely  mystery  of  existence  as  now  I  find  it,  I  shall 
ever  feel  it  impossible  to  avoid  the  sharpest  pang  of 
which  my  nature  is  susceptible."  No  wonder  that  a 
lost  soul  which  can  utter  a  wail  of  despair  like  that, 
longs  for  even  annihilation.  No  wonder  that  figures 
that  cannot  lie,  establish  the  fact,  that  wherever  cul- 
ture advances  without  religious  faith,  there  suicide 
increases.  A  philosophy  that  does  violence  to  the 
nature  of  man ;  that  would,  as  we  have  already  seen 
expunge  a  factor  of  his  being,  can  but  be  productive 
of  degredation  and  disaster,  and  is  philosophy 
falsely  so-called. 

Nor  can  the  ordinary  skepticism  offer  better  rea- 
sons for  a  survival  upon  the  ruins  of  Christianity, 
than  the  positivism  to  which  I  have  just  referred. 
Indeed,  it  is  exposed  to  precisely  the  same  objections. 
It  leads  to  the  same  abysm  of  soulless  degredation. 
What  more  debasing  doctrine  can  come  from  human 


408 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


lips,  than  that  uttered  in  a  Chicago  lecture  by  infi- 
delity's champion,  Mr.  Ingersoll?  Here  it  is:  "No- 
thing can  be  more  certain  than  that  no  human  being 
can  by  any  possibility  control  his  thoughts.  No  hu- 
man being  can  be  justly  held  responsible  for  his 
thoughts  any  more  than  for  the  beating  of  his  heart." 
Such  a  statement  is  simply  monstrous. 

"When  a  man's  thoughts  are  vile,  bestial,  murder- 
ous, he  must  not  be  blamed,  he  cannot  help  it.  And, 
as  deeds  spring  from  thoughts,  he  must  not  be  pun- 
ished for  theft,  robbery  or  murder ;  lie  cannot  help 
it  any  more  than  he  can  help  the  beating  of  his  heart. 

Could  such  dangerous  sophistries  find  general  ac- 
ceptance, there  must  flow  therefrom  a  vile  stream  of 
debauchery  and  crime,  that  would  whelm  the  world 
in  a  wave  of  more  than  Egyptian  darkness.  This  throt- 
tling of  conscience,  this  denial  of  the  sinfulness  of  sin, 
this  blotting  out  of  the  lines  between  good  and  evil,  is 
the  noisome  cesspool  from  whose  pestilential  depths 
are  spawned  the  foul  serpents  of  nihilism  and  com- 
munism, that  crawl  forth  to  crush  with  slimy  folds 
all  rulers,  all  governments,  all  religion,  and  with  en- 
vironed fangs  to  poison  to  death  the  very  ideas  of 
God  and  truth  and  right. 

What  right  of  fitness  has  infidelity  to  live  ?  What  is 
it  but  a  negation  ?  It  has  no  system,  no  morals.  It 
has  builded  no  schools,  no  temples,  no  hospitals.  It 
offers  no  faith,  no  hope,  no  future.  It  quenches 
the  noblest  aspirations  by  destroying  the  hope  of 
immortality,  and  imbrutes  by  denying  a  moral 
quality  to  human  action.  If  this  destroyer  of  the  dis- 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST.  409 

tinction  between  right  and  wrong  prevail,  then  our 
intuitions  of  a  moral  quality  to  acts  are  deceptive, 
the  testimony  of  consciousness  is  a  lie ;  and  the  val- 
idity of  the  intuitions  and  consciousness  being  once 
impeached,  there  is  no  basis  for  a  philosophy  of 
mind.  Indeed,  when  a  philosophy  leads  to  doubt  the 
testimony  of  any  faculty  of  the  mind,  then  phil- 
osophy becomes  impossible. 

Of  late  years  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  organ- 
ize "  societies  of  culture  and  progress,"  so-called,  for 
the  purpose  of  supplanting  the  Christian  churches. 
What  to  do?  Anything  that  the  church  has  left  un- 
done ?  By  no  means.  The  church  has  ever  been  the 
society  of  culture  and  progress.  It  has  builded  the 
schools  in  all  their  gradations.  Its  great  founder 
has,  by  precept  and  example,  enforced  personal  self- 
denial,  with  the  loftiest  benevolence  and  a  boundless 
philanthropy.  What  deeds  of  self-denial,  of  con- 
spicuous benevolence  and  philanthropy  have  these 
hollow-hearted  charlatans,  who  would  steal  the 
livery  of  heaven,  ever  done  to  win  upon  the  world? 

Talleyrand's  suggestion  to  the  founder  of  such  an 
organization  is  worthy  of  general  application. 
Lavellere  Lepeaux  had  organized  a  society  of 
benevolent  rationalism.  Like  all  of  its  kind,  the 
society  seemed  to  languish  on  the  verge  of  dissolu- 
tion. 

Somewhat  discouraged,  Lepeaux  came  to  Talley- 
rand for  advice.  What  was  he  to  do?  He  was 
making  no  headway.  Talleyrand  politely  condoled : 
"  It  is  difficult,  very  difficult,"  said  he,  "  to  found  a 


410 


THE  10  TV  A  PULPIT. 


new  religion.  So  difficult  I  hardly  know  what  to 
suggest.  One  plan  however  you  might  try.  I  would 
advise  yon  to  be  crucified  and  rise  again  on  the  third 
day."  Who  will  dispute  the  wisdom  of  the  advice  ? 
A  system  void  of  transcendent  self-denial  and  power 
is  only  a  travesty  upon  religion. 

How  much  vitality  do  such. associations  possess? 
Can  any  one  be  found  that  has  arrived  at  the  vener- 
able age  of  half  a  score  of  years  ?  While  every 
inch  of  the  church's  progress  for  hundreds  of  years 
was  strewn  with  blood  and  lighted  by  martyr  fires, 
these  miserable  caricatures  perish  in  a  day. 

Let  Dr.  Adler,  Judire  Booth  and  their  fellows,  play 
their  little  plays,  and  as  they  press  the  softly  cush- 
ioned pews  and  are  alternately  soothed  by  organ 
strains  and  essays  on  the  soullessness  of  man,  let 
them  dream  their  little  dream  that  they  are  the 
world's  great  reformers  and  that  Christianity  is 
moving  rapidly  to  their  rear. 

I  once  heard  of  a  conductor  on  the  western  plains 
putting  his  train  upon  a  side-track  to  let  another  pass, 
whose  head-light  was  blazing  in  front  along  the 
track.  Suddenly  a  clammy  perspiration  suffused 
him,  and  with  it  came  the  astonishing  conviction, 
that  he  had  side-tracked  for  the  planet  Venus.  So, 
when  I  see  these  little  societies  of  "  culture,"  side- 
tracked, serenely  waiting  for  Christianity  to  get 
behind  them,  I  think  they  will  wait  in  vain.  The 
star  of  Bethlehem  will  ever  be  in  front,  luring  the 
soul  to  eternal  progress. 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST.  411 

Christianity  dying  ont  ?  Once  its  advocates  were 
a  handful  of  fishermen  against  the  world.  Now  it 
rules  an  ever  advancing  civilization.  Now,  four 
Bible  societies,  of  our  land  and  Great  Britain,  print 
five  million  Bibles  per  year,  and  nine  million  chil- 
dren are  gathered  into  the  fold  of  the  Sunday-school 
of  our  country.  Never  before  were  Christian  minis- 
ters, or  religious  books,  or  Sunday-school  workers 
in  so  great  demand. 

As  storms  give  the  oak  deeper  root,  so  the  shocks 
of  ages  have  only  strengthened  Christianity.  Every 
evolution  of  human  thought  has  only  broken  the 
bands  which  ignorance  has  bound  about  it.  Science 
has  been  asked  to  speak  against  Christianity,  but, 
instead,  she  has  used  her  torch  to  illumine  the  way 
of  life.  Joyfully  let  us  welcome  every  truth  of  sci- 
ence, for  all  truth  is  one  and  is  of  God. 

We  need  have  no  fears  from  that  infidelity  that 
desperately  seeks  to  quench  the  hope  of  immortality, 
and  leave  the  soul  without  a  refuge.  The  soul  of 
man  yearns  for  a  Savior,  and  His  foes  are  only  dash- 
ing themselves  to  ruin  against  the  Rock  of  Ages 
With  infini  te  yearnings  for  heaven  and  immortality, 
amid  the  sorrows  of  earth,  the  soul  will  instinctively 
turn  from  the  empty  husks  of  human  philosophy  to 
the  strength  and  support  and  consolation  of  divine 
religion.  And  these  will  it  increasingly  find,  for, 
however  devious  the  ways,  the  pathway  of  man  is 
that  of  progress,  and  a  hand  omnipotent  is  leading 
the  race,  not  to  broken  cisterns  of  unbelief,  but  to 
the  living  waters  of  eternal  truth. 


412 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


We  know  but  little,  we  see  but  an  insignificant 
segment  of  God's  vast  sphere,  but  this  we  may  know, 
that  if  there  be  a  philosophy  of  history,  the  ways 
of  toil  and  danger  and  darkness  tend  to  the  gates 
of  rest  and  security  and  light.  The  fittest  survives. 
Man  may  be  prodigally  wasteful,  but  in  God's 
economy  no  golden  grain  is  ever  lost. 

As  in  the  fiery  trials  of  the  church,  so  with  the 
human  race,  the  pathway  of  toil  and  suffering  is  thb 
pathway  to  honor  and  triumph.  Wise  is  he  who 
learns  that, 

"  Life  is  not  an  idle  ore, 
Bnt  iron  dug  from  central  gloom, 
And  heated  hot  with  burning  fears. 
And  dipt  in  baths  of  hissing  tears, 
And  battered  with  the  shocks  of  doom 
To  shape  and  use." 

Reverentially  let  us  shape  and  use  the  priceless 
gift ;  making  the  very  trials  a  refining  fire  to  purge, 
that  nought  but  unmixed  ore  remain.  And,  at  last, 
we  shall  leave  behind  only  that  which  is  not  worth 
the  taking ;  and  the  soul  untouched  by  death  shall 
pass  serenely  beyond  the  mantling  shadows  into 
the  light  of  God.  Untouched  by  death,  for  to  the 
trusting  soul 

"There  is  no  death,  the  stars  go  down 
To  rise  upon  a  fairer  shore, 
And  bright  in  heaven's  jeweled  crown 
They  shine  forever  more." 


J.  MAD  WILLIAMS. 


J.  MAD.  WILLIAMS. 


HIS  well-known  preacher  was  born  near  Washington, 
Iowa,  March  15th,  1840.  His  father  was  a  farmer,  and 
consequently  his  early  life  was  spent  on  the  farm,  and 
at  farm  labor.  His  early  educational  advantages  were 
poor,  as  were  those  of  most  boys  of  Iowa  in  those  days. 
In  early  life — at  the  age  of  sixteen — he  confessed 
Christ  under  the  preaching  of  Claiborne  Wright,  and  at  nine- 
teen he  had  so  applied  himself  to  study,  as  to  be  able  to  teach 
in  the  district  school  of  that  day. 

In  1861,  he  attended  Oskaloosa  College  for  three  months. 
But  the  commotion  stirred  up  by  the  Rebellion,  led  to  a  term 
of  service  in  the  army,  and  after  his  return  therefrom,  he 
entered  Iowa  State  University.  He  remained  in  school  three 
years,  and  graduated  as  Bachelor  of  Didactics,  and  afterwards 
the  honorary  of  Master  of  Arts  was  conferred  by  this  jame 
school.  Immediately  after  leaving  the  University,  he „ was 
made  Superintendent  of  the  Iowa  City  Schools,  in  which 
capacity  he  served  for  three  years,  with  success,  and  then  was 
employed  as  pastor  of  the  church  there.  After  preaching  nearly 
two  years  he  resigned  on  account  of  ill-health ;  recruited  by  a 
short  trip  to  the  Rockies;  returned  and  entered  upon  the  work 
of  co-editor  of  the  Evangelist  at  Oskaloosa. 

After  this,  he  preached  at  Beatrice,  Nebraska,  nearly  three 
years ;  at  Monmouth,  Illinois,  one  year  ;  at  West  Liberty,  Iowa, 
over  four  years  ;  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  two  years  ;  at  Falls 
City,  Nebraska,  one  year;  and  now  labors  for  the  churches  at 
Tiffin  and  Columbus  City,  his  residence  being  at  West  Lib- 
erty. His  work  as  pastor  of  the  various  churches  he  has  served 
has  uniformly  been  successful. 

413 


414 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


He  has  had  several  tempting  offers  to  enter  the  educational 
field.  Was  tendered  the  chair  of  English  Language  and  Liter- 
ature in  Iowa  State  University,  at  the  time  this  chair  was  es- 
tablished. Eureka  College  would  like  to  have  his  services,  but 
he  loves  the  ministry;  he  would  rather  preach  the  gospel  at  a 
living  salary,  than  to  get  rich  at  some  other  calling. 

He  has  written  considerable  for  the  Gospel  Herald,  Evangelist, 
Christian  Standard,  Little  Sower  and  The  Christian;  much  with- 
out his  name,  or  over  another  name.  He  has  also  written  some 
poems  that  have  ranked  as  of  standard  value,  some  having 
oeen  set  to  music  and  others  reprinted  in  several  periodicals. 

He  was  married  in  1867  to  Miss  Augusta  Zimmerman  of  Iowa 
City,  who  has  ever  been  a  faithful  companion  and  helpmeet 
in  the  gospel.  By  this  union  they  are  blessed  with  a  happy 
family  of  one  girl  and  four  boys. 

Brother  Williams  is  about  five  feet  six  or  seven  inch  ^s  in 
height;  weighs  about  140  pounds;  has  dark  hair  and  black 
eyes;  is  fairly  presentable  in  the  pulpit ;  companionable  and 
cheerful  whether  sick  or  well ;  an  inveterate  student  and 
thinker ;  a  side  view  of  his  head  tells  you  he  would  rather  think 
than  eat,  and  a  front  view  emphasizes  both  ;  has  a  good  com- 
mand of  language ;  a  clear  conception  of  the  plan  of  salvation, 
and  a  personal  influence  which  enables  him  to  push  its  claims 
with  success.  In  a  word  he  is  one  of  those  preachers  who  never 
disappoints  you,  unless  it  is  always  to  do  more  than  you  ex- 
pected. 

He  is  troubled  with  sciatica  of  long  standing  and  has  suffered 
much.  It  is  to  be  hoped  he  will  recover  and  live  to  do  great 
good  in  the  Master's  vineyard. 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  FAITH. 


BT  J.  MAD.  WILLIAMS. 


HERE  is  one  portion  of  our  Lord's  life  on 
earth  that  is  sublimely  distinguished  from 
all  the  rest, — distinguished  by  what  it  is  of  it- 
self, and  also  by  what  stands  next  on  either 
side.  That  portion  is  the  narrow  strip  that 
lies  between  the  deep,  wide,  nnbridged  moat  of 
death  and  the  opening  gate  of  heaven.  I  mean  the 
forty  days  of  manifestation,  in  which  Jesus  gave 
abundant  proofs  of  His  resurrection  and  delivered 
the  final  words  as  to  the  inauguration  of  His  church. 

Upon  the  death  of  the  Master,  the  flame  of  faith 
on  him  in  the  breasts  of  His  disciples  had  flickered 
low  and  out ;  but  during  the  forty  days  the  Risen 
One  kindled  that  flame  anew,  and  kindled  it  so 
well  that  ever  since  it  lias  burned  high  and  strong. 

Ten  distinct  epiphanies  or  manifestations  of  the 
Risen  Redeemer  are  recorded  in  the  New  Testament. 
They,  each  and  all,  are  worthy  of  devout  study.  To 
the  record  of  one  of  them,  the  sixth  in  order,  found 
in  John's  Gospel,  20th  chapter  and  the  26th  to  29th 
verses  inclusive,  I  now  invite  your  attention : 


416 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


"  And  after  eight  days  again  His  disciples  were 
within,  and  Thomas  with  them.  Jesus  cometh,  the 
doors  being  shut,  and  stood  in  the  midst,  and  said, 
Peace  be  unto  you.  Then  saith  He  to  Thomas, 
Reach  hither  thy  finger,  and  see  my  hands ;  and 
reach  hither  thy  hand,  and  put  it  into  my  side :  and 
be  not  faithless,  but  believing.  Thomas  answered 
and  said  unto  Him,  my  Lord  and  my  God.  Jesus 
saith  unto  him,  Because  thou  hast  seen  me,  thou 
hast  believed  :  blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen, 
and  yet  have  believed." 

With  much  profit  we  might  dwell  upon  the  whole 
of  this  passage,  for  it  is  full  of  very  precious  lessons; 
but  I  would  narrow  our  consideration  at  this  time, 
to  just  one  sentence,  and  that  the  last  of  the  portion 
of  Scripture  selected, — 

"Blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and  yet 
have  believed." 

Here  is  an  utterance  applicable  to  us ;  here  a 
blessedness  possible  to  us — the  blessedness  of  faith 
in  Christ,  the  Lord. 

Before  I  pass  on  to  this,  my  theme,  let  us  become 
if  possible,  better  acquainted  with  the  two  leading 
terms  of  the  theme,  blessedness  and  faith. 

Three  things  enter  into  my  conception  of  blessed- 
ness, viz :  happiness,  holiness  and  heaven.  Blessed- 
ness is  human  happiness  attained  in  the  way  of 
holiness  according  to  the  will  of  heaven. 

Faith,  religious  faith,  is  defined  in  the  Scriptures 
(Hebrews,  11 : 1)  as  "  the  assurance  as  to  things 
hoped  for,  the  conviction  as  to  things  not  seen." 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  FAITH. 


417 


The  difference  between  religious  faith,  general, and 
that  particular  faith  called  Christian,  will  he  ex- 
plained in  another  and  a  proper  place.  With  our 
terms  practically  if  not  accurately  defined,  we  are 
ready  to  ask  why  faith  is  a  blessed  thing.  And  I 
answer, 

First :  Faith  is  blessed  because  it  widens  and 
enriches  the  circle  of  human  life,  acquainting  its 
possessor  with,  and  relating  him  to  the  past  and 
future,  the  unseen  and  the  spiritual. 

I  trust  to  make  this  proposition  plain,  by  con- 
trasting two  circles  of  human  life ;  the  one  of  faith, 
the  other  of  knowledge  merely. 

(1)  The  man  of  faith  has  knowledge  of  many 
things  belonging  to  the  present ;  but  he  does  not 
confine  himself  to  so  narrow  a  neck  of  time.  He  has 
assurance  and  conviction  concerning  the  past  and 
the  future  also.  He  looks  backward ;  and  through 
faith  he  is  convinced  that  the  worlds  were  created 
and  that  God  framed  them  by  his  word;  that, 
through  all  the  ages  of  history  He  has  been  develop- 
ing His  purposes  among  and  with  the  nations  of  the 
earth ;  that  Immanuel  did  come  and  tarry  awhile 
with  men,  and  did  lay  the  foundation  of  an  all- 
glorious  and  an  everlasting  kingdom.  He  looks 
forward ;  and  his  life  lifted  aloft  by  the  many  up- 
bearing and  mighty  arms  of  assurance  goes  easily 
out  into  the  vast  future  and  revels  amid  ten  thous- 
and joys.  Redemption  from  the  grave ;  the  glorified 
body  ;  the  songs  of  the  saved  ;  the  house  of  many 
mansions ;  the  palms  and  crowns  of  victory  ;  the 


418 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


great  white  throne  with  its  innumerable  and  unut- 
terable issues  of  glory,  are  all  influential  realities  to 
the  man  of  faith.  Things  seen,  the  things  which 
may  be  known  in  part  at  least  by  the  senses,  though 
worthy  of  attention  and  though  counted  by  millions, 
are  not  all  or  most  to  the  man  of  faith.  He  holds 
the  realm  of  the  unseen  as  boundless,  the  place  and 
power  of  the  spiritual  as  the  highest  and  mightiest. 
In  the  world  of  sense  there  are  objects  which  he 
may  see  and  hear  and  touch ;  but  above  and  be- 
yond these  are  intelligences  and  substances  with 
which  no  sense  can  acquaint  him ;  and  yet,  with 
which  to  satisfy  his  mind  and  heart,  he  must  be  ac- 
quainted. 

Across  the  boundary  of  sense,  he  is  carried  by 
the  assurance,  the  conviction,  of  faith;  and  over 
there  in  the  illimitable  circle  of  the  unseen  and 
spiritual  he  finds  and  feasts  on  "  the  things  hoped 
for."  Over  there  he  becomes  acquainted  with  God 
who  peoples  thickly  all  this  wider  world  with  real- 
ities more  potent  and  desirable  than  those  of  the 
seen  and  temporal. 

Does  it  add  to  the  happiness  of  man  to  increase 
his  stores  of  knowledge  and  his  treasures  of  hope  ? 
Then  indeed,  does  faith  bless  him ;  for  to  both  of 
these  faith  is  adding  evermore. 

What  matters  it  that  these  convictions  and  assur- 
ances lack  the  palpableness  and  gross  certainty  of 
those  that  come  through  the  senses?  They  are 
nevertheless,  so  many,  so  varied,  so  wide-reaching, 
as  altogether  to  enlighten  the  mind,  gladden  the 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OP  FAITH.  419 


heart,  captivate  the  will  and  elevate  life.  And  if 
faith  can  do  this  for  man,  who  will  deny  its  blessed- 
ness? And  that  faith  in  its  best  forms  has  done 
this  for  some  at  least,  no  person  fair-minded  and 
well  informed  will  question. 

(2.)  It  is  said  sometimes  that  the  man  of  faith  is 
not  free  and  unfettered.  But  he  only  is  free  whom 
the  truth  makes  free ;  and  he  is  free  only  so  fast  and 
far  as  the  truth  gives  him  freedom.  The  wider  and 
higher  the  truth,  the  wider  and  higher  the  freedom. 
Who  is  it,  then,  that  walks  abroad  with  a  large  lib- 
erty ?  and  who  is  it  that  paces  over  and  over  his 
prison  confines  ?  Test  the  matter  a  little.  Throw 
away  every  assurance,  conviction  and  judgment  you 
have  except  those  that  have  grown  up  out  of  bare 
knowledge.  What  is  remaining?  If  only  the 
knowledge  that  you  have  gained  through  your  five 
senses  remain,  your  capital  is  meagre  indeed. 

I  know  the  paper  I  am  writing  on  is  smooth ;  I 
feel  it.  I  know  the  rose  is  fragrant ;  I  smelted  it. 
I  know  that  maple  sugar  has  a  peculiar  sweetness ; 
I  tasted  it.  I  know  that  the  shriek  of  the  fife  is 
shrill  and  disagreeable ;  I  heard  it.  I  know  that  the 
sky  is  sometimes  blue ;  I  saw  it.  But  how  few  of 
my  convictions  are  gained  through  my  five  senses ! 
Some  things  best  known  to  me  were  not  learned 
through  sensation.  For  example,  I  know  that  I  am 
thinking  now;  that  every  effect  must  have  an  ade- 
quate cause ;  that  the  whole  of  a  thin.o;  is  greater 
than  any  one  of  its  parts.  I  know  these  and  other 
like  facts  and  truths,  and  the  knowledge  is  the  most 


420  THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 

important  of  my  store  ;  yet  these  convictions  come 
not  through  sensation.  We  cannot  exclude  our 
judgments  furnished  us  by  consciousness  and  intui- 
tion; and  we  must,  therefore,  enlarge  our  circle. 
Now  suppose  the  widened  circle  to  include  the 
knowledge  which  comes  through  sensation,  con- 
sciousness and  intuition,  what  have  we  left  out,  of 
practical  value?  I  would  have  you  observe  that 
what  is  now  excluded  is  of  the  nature  of  faith ;  and, 
in  keeping  with  our  test,  ought  to  be  excluded.  But 
observe  furthermore,  what  is  now  excluded  is  of  the 
greatest  practical  value,  as  will  appear  by  citing  a 
few  representative  cases.  The  man  confined  strictly 
to  the  circle  of  knowledge  as  now  circumscribed, 
does  not  know  his  own  name.  He  has  been  edu- 
cated into  a  sort  of  belief  that  his  name  is  Mr.  So 
and  So,  that  is  all.  He  does  not  know  that  Autumn 
will  be  followed  by  Winter ;  it  is  very  probable  but 
it  is  not  certain.  A  wide  observation  of  the  seasons 
made  by  himself;  a  still  wider  observation  made  by 
other  men  whom  he  infers  told  the  truth  about  the 
matter,  lead  him  by  exercising  his  reason  in  the 
right  way  to  infer  that  Winter  will  follow  Autumn. 

But  all  this  is  not  knowledge,  it  is  merely  infer- 
ence; and  our  problem  demands  that  inferences 
must  be  cast  aside. 

Again,he  does  not  know  that  the  merchant  will 
forward  to  his  house  the  bill  of  goods  just  bought, 
or  that  the  bank  will  return  the  money  he  deposited; 
it  is  all  a  matter  of  confidence  built  up  out  of  infer- 
ences, is  this  commercial  life ;  and  the  man  is  wholly 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  FAITH. 


421 


cut  off  from  it  who  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  rea- 
son, inference,  probability,  faith.  Maybe  such  a 
one  could  get  along  "better  in  "  the  laws  of  nature," 
a  fat  pasture  for  knowledge,  but  a  very  lean  one  for 
anything  like  faith,  one  would  think  from  what  is 
often  said  of  the  subject.  How  much  does  your 
man  of  mere  knowledge  know  about  the  law  of 
gravitation  ?  He  knows  by  his  senses  that  a  mate- 
rial object  unsupported  falls  earthward,  and  that 
another  and  another  likewise  falls ;  he  knows  by 
his  intuition  that  there  is  for  this  effect  an  adequate 
cause  ;  he  knows  by  his  reason,  halt !  Not  a  step 
in  that  direction  I  To  reason  is  to  draw  inferences; 
to  draw  inferences  is  to  pile  up  probabilities;  to 
pile  up  probabilities  is  to  produce  faith ! 

When  you  declare  to  the  man  of  certainties  in 
knowledge,  that  the  earth  attracts  the  book,  and 
that  the  book  in  proportion  to  its  size,  attracts  the 
earth ;  that  this  mutual  attraction  between  matter 
and  matter  is  that  beautiful  force  by  which  are  held 
together  the  earth,  the  moon,  the  stars,  and  the  sun  ; 
and  that  it  is  a  simple,  all-pervading  law  of  the  uni- 
verse, if  he  is  consistent,  he  will  confess  that  he 
knows  nothing  about  this  law.  Our  so-called  knowl- 
edge of  this  force  is  based  upon  long  and  wide  and 
varied  observations,  careful  and  intricate  processes 
of  reasoning,  made  either  by  ourselves  or  some  one 
else.  Our  judgments  respecting  gravitation  never 
reach  certainty  until  they  are  verified.  Who  has 
certainly  proved  the  universality  of  this  law  by  veri- 
fication?  Nobody.    Very  few  persons  have  even 


422 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


followed  out  the  process  of  reasoning  by  which  this 
law  is  shown  to  he — probable.  Without  verification 
actual  or  possible,  we  receive  a  statement  as  to  the 
laws  of  nature  without  much  question.  15ut  this  is 
done,  mark  you,  not  on  the  ground  of  certainty ,~but 
upon  that  of  probability r,  upon  the  ground  on  which 
faith  grows.  Nor  is  this  anything  else  than  reason- 
able and  practical.  Who  is  it  that  will  not  prepare 
for  a  coming  winter  until  he  has  verified  by  a  shiver- 
ing starvation  in  the  spring  ?  Who  is  it  that  will 
not  start  for  London  until  the  existence  of  that  city 
has  been  verified  by  sense.  Who  is  it,  in  short,  that 
will  take  nothing  on  trust,  but  summons  all  things 
to  an  impossible  test  ?  Nobody  but  the  mole-eyed 
who  rejects  reason,  throws  away  inference  as  worth- 
less and  will  have  nothing  as  guide  but  certainty. 
Such  a  one  cuts  himself  off,  not  only  from  God  and 
spiritual  things,  but  also  from  the  employments  and 
enjoyments  of  the  present  life. 
Again,  I  answer, 

Second :  Faith  is  blessed,  because  it  thus  widens 
and  enricTies  the  circle  of  human  life,  not  only  with- 
out violence  to  the  human  mind,  but  in  vital  agree- 
ment with  It  in  its  every-day,  practical  operations. 

If  it  be  found,  that  the  happiness  that  faith  brings, 
is  brought  at  too  great  a  sacrifice  to  the  nature  of 
man,  is  brought  at  the  expense  of  his  native,  noble 
powers,  then  might  we  doubt  faith's  blessedness. 
But  if  it  be  found,  as  it  may  be  found,  that  faith  is 
a  conviction  and  assurance,  not  only  in  beautiful 
harmony  with  reason,  but  also  a  legitimate  out- 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  FAITH. 


growth  of  it,  then  will  the  blessedness  of  faith  be 
the  more  readily  granted. 

(1)  Look  at  the  effects  of  faith.  Does  it  work 
violence  upon,  and  weakness  in,  the  minds  of  those 
who  possess  it?  Not  a  few  of  the  leaders  of  the 
modern  world  are  men  and  women  of  religions,  aye 
more,  of  Christian  faith.  These  are  not  shorn  of 
their  strength  in  anywise  by  their  faith,  but  rather 
are  they  the  greater  for  it.  The  faith  of  Washington 
leaves  no  stain  on  the  splendor  of  his  patriotism ; 
that  of  Wellington  is  no  flaw  in  his  admirable  gen- 
eralship ;  that  of  Webster  or  Gladstone  or  Bismarck 
takes  nothing  from  his  massive  statesmanship;  that 
of  Jonathan  Edwards  or  Sir  William  Hamilton  is  no 
clog  on  his  wonderful  powers  of  thought.  To  such 
men  as  Wycliffe  and  Luther,  reformers— Columbus 
and  Livingstone,  explorers, — Selden  and  Addison 
Alexander,  scholars, —  Howard  and  Wilberforce, 
philanthropists— faith,  Christian  faith,  was  the 
human  power  that  transformed  them  and  made  them 
giants  in  their  day.  Do  you  discover  anything  little, 
weak,  or  abnormal  in  the  natures  of  such  worthies  of 
science  as  Copernicus,  Francis  Bacon,  Descartes, 
Pascal,  Barrow,  Locke,  Isaac  Newton,  Cuvier,  Far- 
raday,  David  Brewster,  Humphrey  Davy,  Agassiz, 
and  a  host  of  others  I  might  mention  ?  This  is  Sir 
Humphrey  Davy's  estimate  of  faith :  "  I  envy  no 
quality  of  mind  or  intellect  in  others,  be  it  genius, 
power,  wit,  or  fancy;  but  if  I  could  choose  what 
would  be  most  delightful,  and,  I  believe,  most  use- 
ful to  me,  I  should  prefer  a  firm  religious  belief  to 


424 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


every  other  blessing  :  for  it  makes  life  a  discipline 
of  goodness — creates  new  hopes  when  all  earthly 
hopes  vanish — throws  over  the  decay,  the  destruc- 
tion of  existence,  the  most  gorgeous  of  all  lights — 
awakens  life  in  death — and  from  corruption  and  de- 
cay calls  up  beauty  and  divinity." 

Drop  into  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Edinburg.  Sir  James  Simpson,  the  Queen's  phys- 
ician for  Scotland,  a  man  renowned  for  scientific  at- 
tainments over  Europe,  is  addressing  the  meeting. 
He  is  speaking  of  the  death-bed  of  Sir  David  Brew- 
ster, one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  philosophers, 
who  has  recently  passed  into  the  eternal  world. 
But  hear  Dr.  Simpson:  ""Once  I  said  to  him,  'I 
wish  all  learned  men  had  your  simple  faith.'  Again 
there  was  a  pause,  and  each  word  was  dropped  out 
with  a  never-to-be-forgotten  weight  of  meaning,  'I 
have  had  the  light  for  many  years,  and  oh,  how 
bright  it  is.  I  feel  so  safe,  so  perfectly  safe,  so  per- 
fectly happy.'"  Dr.  Simpson  continues:  "As  a 
physician  I  have  often  watched  by  the  dying,  but  I 
have  never  seen  a  death-bed  more  full  of  pure  love 
and  faith  than  was  that  of  our  late  President.  It 
was  indeed  a  sermon  of  unapproachable  eloquence 
and  pathos.  For  there  lay  this  grand  and  gifted  old 
philosopher,  this  hoary  loving  votary  and  arch-priest 
of  science,  passing  fearlessly  through  the  valley  of 
death,  sustained  and  gladdened  with  all-simple  and 
all-sufficient  faith  of  a  very  child,  and  looking  for- 
ward with  unclouded  intellect  and  bright  and  happy 
prospects  to  the  mighty  change  that  was  about  to 
carry  him  from  time  to  eternity." 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  FAITH. 


425 


The  names  I  have  just  mentioned  were  like  Davy 
and  Brewster  in  this  that  they  were  men  of  science 
and  men  of  faith  also. 

What  does  the  poet  sing  ?  According  to  a  living 
eminent  critic,  it  is  Poetry  that  gives  us  the  abiding 
good.  Turn  to  the  long  line  of  poets  who  have  done 
most  to  make  ours  one  of  the  three  literatures  of  the 
world  and  ours  the  leading  living  language  of  earth. 
Listen  to  their  mingled  stream  of  song  as  it  flows 
mightily  and  musically  down  from  Chaucer's  day  to 
Tennyson's.  Do  you  not  hear  this  ^triumphant 
strain,  sweet,  clear,  round,  and  reverent,  "  Have  faith 
in  God"?  And  to-day,  in  the  wide  world  of  the 
west,  dear,  old  Whittier,  with  a  faith  and  fire  not 
unlike  the  prophets  of  old,  is  still  singing  straight 
to  the  hearts  of  men ;  and  the  calm  words  of  Lowell 
are  falling  deep  and  worshipful  as  an  organ  peal : 

"Truth  forever  on  the  scaffold,  wrong  forever  on  the  throne : 
Yet  that  scaffold  sways  the  future,  and  behind  the  dim  unkown, 
Standeth  God  within  the  shadow,  keeping  watch  above  His 
own." 

While  in  England,  her  last  laureate,  in  his  match- 
less "  In  Memoriam,"  gives  back  to  the  sea  around, 
his  sob  and  moan  and  wail  and  words  of  witchery 
which  move  the  souls  of  men,  as  never  sea  can 
move  them.  And  he  sings  of  faith ;  at  first  and  best, 
he  sings  of  faith : — 

"  Strong  Son  of  God,  immortal  love, 
Whom  we,  that  have  not  seen  thy  face, 
By  faith,  and  faith  alone,  embrace, 

Believing  where  we  cannot  prove : 


126 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Thine  are  these  orbs  of  light  and  shade  ; 
Thon  madest  life  in  man  and  brute, 
Thou  madest  Death ;  and  lo,  thy  foot 

Is  on  the  skull  which  thou  hast  made. 
•  ••••••• 

"  We  have  but  faith  ;  we  cannot  know  j 
For  knowledge  is  of  things  we  6ee ; 
And  yet  we  trust  it  comes  from  thee, 

A  beam  in  darkness :  let  it  grow." 

But  to  be  brief,  mark  and  observe  the  host  of 
teachers,  preachers,  scholars,  thinkers,  reformers 
and  rulers  of  modern  history, — the  Samsons  and 
Sauls  among  their  fellows — who  have  given  religious 
faith  the  regal  place  in  their  lives,  and  you  will  not, 
you  cannot,  think  that  their  faith  is  a  thing  of  ab- 
normal growth,  of  contemptible  presence,  or  of  evil 
influence.  But  rather  must  you  think  that  faith  is 
consistent  with  their  natures,  inspiring  to  their  lives, 
crowning  to  their  characters. 

(2)  Examine  the  nature  of  faith.  Human  life  that 
is  rational,  proceeds  forth,  mediately  or  immedi- 
ately, from  convictions,  assurances  and  judgments. 
These,  as  we  have  seen,  are  not  based  upon  what 
we  call  real  knowledge.  In  fact,  the  greater  number  of 
practical  human  judgments  are  inferences  drawn 
from  observations  and  comparisons  made  by  human 
reason.  These  inferences  are  only  probable.  From 
the  nature  of  the  case,  no  amount  of  testimony  can 
ever  make  many  of  them  more  than  probabilities. 
Some  of  these  probabilities  can  never  become  cer- 
tainties through  verification.  Others  may  be  veri- 
fied, but  only  after  they  shall  have  ceased  to  be  of 


THE  BLES8EDNES8  OJ}'  FAITH. 


427 


practical  value,  as  ground  of  action.  And  yet  we  go 
right  on,  in  the  affairs  of  this  life,  risking  all  we  have 
upon  probabilities.  Not  upon  certainties,  but  upon 
probabilities,  we  conduct  our  business  dealings 
with  our  fellow-men ;  we  scatter  our  grain  at  seed- 
time ;  we  take  our  journey  by  boat  or  cars;  we  swal- 
low every  dose  of  medicine ;  we  accept  the  proud 
sciences  of  the  day ;  and  we  make  our  last  will  and 
testament  in  view  of  death !  "Without  violence  or  in- 
jury or  offense  to  our  human  nature,  we  do  this. 
With  ease  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  we  do  this.  But 
to  do  all  this  is  to  exercise  faith,  not  religious  faith 
just  yet,  but  faith  nevertheless.  And  it  is  marvelous 
how  much  of  such  faith  men  use,  and  how  well  they 
use  it.  without  stopping  to  question  as  to  its  name 
and  nature.  Yes,  we  do  walk,  nay  more,  we  must 
walk,  by  faith  more  than  by  sight,  respecting  the 
things  of  time  and  sense  even.  For  the  most  part  of 
our  lives  here  and  now,  we  are  led  on  by  what  may 
become  certainties  to  us,  only  on  the  morrow ;  and 
we  thus  move  on  in  the  only  possible  way,  viz.,  by 
observing,  by  comparing,  by  inferring,  by  judging 
and  by  acting,  without  being  able  to  test  the  ground 
of  our  action,  by  what  we  call  real  knowledge. 

And  now  we  are  ready  to  ask,  if  man  becomes  at 
all  acquainted  with  the  unseen  and  spiritual,  with 
God  and  eternal  good,  in  what  way  will  that  acquain- 
tance be  made?  In  what  way  ought  we  to  expect  it 
to  be  made  ?  In  the  beginning,  at  least,  by  faith,  and 
not  by  sight.  This  way  is  but  the  continuance  of  a 
large  part  of  man's  education  hitherto.    He  has 


428 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


talked  by  faith  in  many  of  his  relations  to  the  seen 
world,  and  thereby  is  he  trained  to  walk  by  faith  re- 
specting the  unseen  and  spiritual  world.  He  has 
been  bettered  by  practical  faith ;  why  may  he  not 
be  blessed  by  religious  faith  ? 

Practical  faith  Las  spontaneously  sprung  up  in  his 
soul  and  there  existed  in  happy  harmony  with  his 
nature';  why  may  not  religious  faith  spring  up, 
grow,  abide  and  save  ?  Practical  faith  and  religious 
faith  may  differ  and  do  differ.    Tht-ir  ultima tes  to- 
ward which  they  reach,  and  on  which  they  rest,  do 
vastly  differ.    They  differ  in  the  surroundings  that 
call  them  into  exercise.    But  they  have  much  in 
common.    They  both  are  natural ;  both  are  rooted 
in  reason ;  both  are  inferential  and  probable ;  both 
are  of  the  highest  practical  value  to  man ;  both  are 
strong  enough  to  bear  the  weight  of  human  life  and 
happiness.    But  further  :  the  man  without  religious 
faith  is  a  monstrous  dwarf,  so  made  of  self,  and  un- 
sightly to  God.    The  Scriptures  declare,  "  Without 
faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God."    And  for  good 
reason.    God  has  made  man  with  his  five  senses  and 
surrounded  him  with  objects  of  sense  ;  and  it  is  His 
good  pleasure  that  man  should  gain  some  knowledge 
of  the  material  world  through  sensation.    More  than 
this,  God  has  gifted  man  with  intellectual  powers 
and  richly  furnished  hiniwith  objects  corresponding 
to  these  powers ;  and  it  is  His  good  pleasure  that 
man    should  develop  toward  his  true  manhood, 
through  the  convictions  of  reason. 
But  most  of  all.  God  has  crowned  man  with  spir- 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  FAITH. 


429 


itual  faculties,  and  gives  Himself  as  the  supreme 
and  all-comprehensive  object  of  these  faculties ;  and 
it  is  His  good  pleasure  that  man  should  reach  his 
true  manhood  through  the  conviction  and  assurance 
of  faith.  Seeing  that  man  is  endowed  with  the 
faculty  of  religious  faith,  and  environed  by  the  con- 
ditions to  call  it  into  being ;  that  his  tendency  to  such 
faith  is  strong,  natural  and  harmonious ;  and  that 
the  exercise  of  such  faith  is  the  highest  and  divines t 
degree  in  his  development, — it  cannot  be  otherwise 
than  that  faith  brings  blessedness  and  life,  and 
that  unbelief  brings  damnation  and  death. 

The  Scriptures  but  voice  the  highest  reason  when 
they  declare,  "  The  just  shall  live  by  faith  "  and 
"He  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned." 

Finally,  I  answer, — 

Third.  Perfect  religious  faith,  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  is  blessed  because  of  the  foundation  on 
which  it  rests  ;  the  influence  upon  life  that  it  ex- 
erts ;  the  ultimate  glory  for  which  it  hopes. 

(1.)  The  foundation.  Already  I  have  indicated  the 
all  embracing  object  of  religious  faith  to  be  God 
himself.  Primitive  faith  laid  hold  on  God  as  the 
Existent  One  and  the  Gracious  to  all  seekers  after 
Him.  "  He  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  He 
is,  and  that  He  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  dili- 
gently seek  Him."  The  creation  within  man  and 
the  creation  fully  present  God  as  the  object  of  such 
faith  (Rom.  1 :  19,  20).  But  sin  entered  into  the 
world;  and  the  object  of  faith  must  needs  be  modi- 
fied by  further  revelation  of  the  Divine. 


430 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Hence.  God  is  revealed  in  the  law  and  in  history, 

as  He  whose  government  evermore  favors  righteous- 
ness and  opposes  sin.  This  revelation  brought  to 
man  a  sight  of  sin,  a  sense  of  guilt,  a  realization  of 
spiritual  weakness,  all  working  despair  and  death ; 
and  the  object  of  faith  must  needs  be  modified 
again  by  further  revelation  of  God,  bringing  peace 
and  hope  and  life.  And  so  "  God  in  Christ,  recon- 
ciling the  world  to  Himself,  not  imputing  their  tres- 
passes unto  them,"  comes  to  us,  as  the  near,  dis- 
tinct, complete  and  quickening  object  of  religious 
faith.  How  blessed  it  is  that  a,  person  is  presented 
as  that  to  which  our  faith  may  first  fasten  and  joy- 
fully cling !  A  person,  like  to  ourselves  and  yet 
different  from  us,  as  the  spiritual  differs  from  the 
earthly,  as  the  Divine  differs  from  the  human,  such 
a  person  is  that  which  is  most  easily  believed  on 
and  most  enduringly  believed  in.  But  that  person 
who  is  to  take  the  tendrils  of  our  faith  and  fasten 
them  firmly  to  the  throne  of  God  itself,  must  be  fully 
and  fittingly  authenticated  as  the  chosen  of  God. 
And  truly  is  this  one.  "  Never  man  spoke  as  this 
man  speaks  "  and  "  who  of  you  convicteth  me  of 
sin,"  are  the  confession  and  the  challenge  that  point 
Him  out  as  the  teacher  from  God  and  as  the  lamb 
without  spot  or  blemish. 

His  aims.  His  character,  His  words,  His  works, 
His  sufferings,  all  testify  that  He  is  Immanuel. 
With  what  Divine  condescension  is  God  with  us  in 
Jesus  Christ !  Behold  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  true 
Elisha,  laying  Himself  upon  the  dead  body  of 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  FAITH.  431 


humanity,  putting  "  His  mouth  upon  his  mouth  and 
His  eyes  upon  his  eyes  and  His  hands  upon  hie 
hands,"  that  the  dead  one  may  wax  warm  and  live ! 
But  there  is  one  fact  in  the  history  of  this  person 
which  I  would  regard  as  the  foundation  fact ;  a  fact 
lying  in  the  seen  and  the  unseen  worlds ;  a  fact  that 
declares  this  person  to  he  of  the  unseen  world  as 
well  as  of  the  seen ;  the  fact  of  His  resurrection  from 
the  dead.  Nothing  else  can  so  fitly  and  fully  de- 
clare that  Jesus  Christ  is  from  above,  that  His  na- 
ture is  holy  and  spiritual,  and  that  He  is  what  He 
claimed  to  be — the  only  begotten  Son  of  God. 
This  is  the  commanding  eminence  from  which  when 
gained,  faith  sweeps  all  doubts  from  the  field. 

What  else  could  Thomas  do,  when  he  found  him- 
self on  the  resurrection  height  where  all  shadows 
are  swallowed  up  of  sunshine,  than  to  cry  out  in  an 
agony  of  reverential  joy,  "My  Lord  and  my  God !" 
But  observe  that  this  fact,  so  significant  in  its  teach- 
ings, so  complete  as  testimony  to  the  lordship  of 
Jesus,  so  unique  in  all  history,  is  at  the  same  time 
within  the  easy  reach  of  faith.  This  is  implied  in  the 
sentence  chosen  as  text,  "Blessed  are  they  that 
have  not  seen  and  yet  have  believed."  It  is  'no 
matter  of  wonder,  then,  that  the  great  rationalistic 
critic,  De  Wette,  after  years  of  study  upon  the 
Scriptures  that  take  their  meaning  and  derive  their 
force  from  the  resurrection  of  Jes us,  declared  that 
this  fact  is  better  attested  than  any  other  fact  of 
history. 

(2)  The  influence.    Indirectly,  in  another  part  of 


432 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


this  sermon,  the  influence  of  this  faith  has  been 
touched.  A  few  words  more  must  suffice.  Whether 
we  consider  faith  in  Christ  as  a  power  in  the  forma- 
tion of  character  or  an  influence  shedding  peace,  joy 
and  comfort  to  the  weary,  grieved  and  sorrowing, 
there  can  be  no  serious  question  that  this  faith  is  a 
blessed  tiling.  Where  that  faith  is  possessed  richly, 
there  are  formed  the  fairest  characters  of  earth. 

And  we  shall  find  them  vividly  and  avowedly  con- 
scious that  by  the  power  of  this  faith  they  have  been 
built,  fashi  med  and  established.  As  to  the  peace, 
joy  and  comfort  that  come  to  the  possessors  of  this 
faith,  in  their  stress  and  need,  there  are  ten  thous- 
and witnesses.  Truly,  fully,  repeatedly,  have  the 
words  of  the  Master  been  verified :  "  These  tilings  I 
have  spoken  unto  you,  that  in  me  ye  might  hate 
peace.  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation  ;  but  be 
of  good  cheer.  I  have  overcome  the  world."  Daily 
thousands  are  overcoming  the  world,  and  it  is  faitl 
in  Christ  that  gives  them  the  victory.  Only  onev 
now  and  then,  of  the  innumerable  victories  ever 
becomes  matter  of  history. 

The  story  of  one  such  came  North,  in  the  autumn 
<  f  1878.  j  ust  after  the  ravages  of  the  yellow  fever  in 
the  South.    It  is  this  : — 

There  was  no  happier  household  in  the  sunny 
South,  than  Jacob  Poitevent's  at  Grenada,  two 
months  ago.  The  fever  broke  out  and  the  father  sent 
three  of  his  children  into  the  country,  intending  to 
go  himself  on  the  following  day,  with  his  wife  and 
two  remaining  daughters. 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  FAITH.  433 


The  delay  was  fatal.  Before  morning,  Mollie,  a 
lovely  maiden,  who  had  been  nursing  a  sick  friend, 
was  delirious,  and  in  a  few  days  was  dead.  Scarcely 
had  the  bereaved  parents  pressed  a  farewell  kiss  on 
the  cold  lips  of  their  dead  daughter,  before  the  sec- 
ond daughter  was  battling  with  the  fever. 

It  was  then  that  the  sorrowing  father  wrote  to  his 
sister,  u  Mollie  is  dead,  and  Ora,  we  fear,  will  soon 
follow  her  ;  our  family  physician  is  dead,  our  neigh- 
bors are  all  dead,  or  moved  out  of  town  ;  no  nurse  or 
help  of  any  kind  to  be  had  for  love  or  money.  I  am 
doing  the  cooking,  and  my  dear  wife  the  nursing. 
Pray  for  us." 

After  awhile  there  came  a  feeble  little  note  from  the 
sick  girl.  "  They  are  all  dead  but  me.  I  knew  when 
father  and  mother  died,  but  I  was  too  sick  to  kiss 
them  good-bye.  I  am  better,  and  have  a  kind  nurse ; 
but  oh,  so  few  ever  recover,  that  I  may  relapse  and 
follow  the  others,  yet." 

It  was  many  weeks  before  the  sick  girl  could  be 
taken  from  the  plague-stricken  town  into  the  coun- 
try, where  her  brother  and  sisters  were.  Then  one 
of  them  wrote  to  the  editor  of  the  New  Orleans 
Picayune :  "  Ora  has  come  out  to  us,  but  so  weak 
that  I  am  jealous  of  every  breath  that  fans  her  white 
cheek.  Mother  was  sick  in  the  same  room  with  Ora, 
father-in  the  adjoining  room.  Rev..  Mr.  McCracken 
prayed  with  mother  before  she  died,  and  when  asked 
by  the  man  of  God,  if  she  had  a  last  message  to  leave, 
she  answered,  '  Tell  my  son  to  be  a  good  boy  and 
meet  me  in  heaven.'    Then  turning  her  face  towards 

28 


434 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Ora's  bed.  she  said,  '  Kiss  all  the  children  for  me 
and  tell  your  dear  father  good-bye  for  a  little  while.' 
Mother  died  on  the  27th  and  father  on  the  28th. 
Father's  nurse  thought  he  might  recover,  and  did 
not  tell  him  of  mother's  death.  He  knew  nothing  of 
it  until  he  met  her  in  heaven." 

(3)  The  ultimate  glory.  It  is  true  "  we  walk  by 
faith  and  not  by  sight "  respecting  God  and  the 
glory  to  be  revealed  to  us  and  in  us.  But  this  faith, 
when  unfolded,  consists  of  inferences,  so  many,  so 
varied,  so  well-founded,  so  wide-reaching  and  so 
heart- winning,  and  their  probabilities  grow  into  such 
immensity,  that  the  faith  becomes  mighty  in  renew- 
ing the  mind,  purifying  the  heart,  fashioning  the 
character,  healing  all  sorrow,  and  creating  a  giant 
hope  as  to  God  and  future  good.  Be  it  so  that  we 
start  heavenward  with  convictions  only  strong 
enough  to  lead  us  on — what  new,  regnant  and  abid- 
ing strength  do  they  take  on  as  we  walk  the  high- 
way of  holiness.  We  walk  by  faith,  desiring  to 
enter  into  the  rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people  of 
God.  We  walk  by  faith,  seeking  a  city  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God.  We  walk  by  faith, 
waiting  for  the  adoption,  to-wit,  the  redemption  of 
our  bodies.  We  walk  by  faith,  expecting  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness. We  walk  by  faith;  hastening  on  and  hasten- 
ing to  the  triumph  of  our  Lord  over  all  opposers 
and  enemies,  a  triumph  that  shall  in  righteousness 
declare  him — "blessed  and  only  potentate."  We 
walk  by  faith,  nearing  the  time  and  scene  when  the 


THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  FAITH. 


435 


gates  of  the  Heavenly  City  shall  close  behind  the 
last  and  loud-greeted  comer-home.  We  walk  by 
faith,  and  even  here  is  settling  down  upon  us,  not  to 
bow  down  but  to  uplift,  the  eternal  weight  of  glory. 
0,  blissful  visions  of  faith !  How  surpassingly 
glorious  are  they !  The  things  unseen  and  eternal 
by  them  are  made  real,  nigh,  and  exceeding  pre- 
cious! Heaven  is  no  more  a  far  away  land,  far 
away  from  our  cognition  and  possession,  when  we 
are  made  ready  for  it ;  for  as  the  poet  truly  sings, — 

"Heaven  is  not  far  from  those  who  see 
With  the  pure  spirit's  sight, 
But  near,  and  in  the  very  reach 
Of  those  who  see  aright." 

Ah  truly  "  the  path  of  the  just,"  the  way  of  faith, 
"  is  as  the  shining  light,  that  shineth  more  and  more 
unto  the  perfect  day."  How  bright  it  shines  some- 
times even  on  this  side  of  Eternal  Day !  The  com- 
ing glory  that  broke  in  on  that  good  man,  John 
Holland,  as  he  lay  dying,  led  him  to  exclaim, 
"What  brightness  is  this  I  see?  Now  farewell 
world — welcome  heaven  !  Oh,  speak  it  when  I  am 
gone  and  preach  it  at  my  funeral:  God  dealeth 
familiarly  with  man.  I  feel  His  mercy,  I  see  His 
majesty;  whether  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body,  I 
cannot  tell,  God  knoweth;  but  I  see  things  that  are 
unutterable ! " 

And  to  God  and  His  unspeakable  glories  this  man 
of  faith  went  forth  from  his  confines. 

Surely,  surely,  the  streaks  of  dawn,  the  reddening 
sky,  the  bursts  of  brightness  that  greet  the  eye  of 


436 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


faith  from  the  eternal  east,  give  promises  of  Day, 
full-orb  fd  and  undiinined,  when  we  shall  see  the 
Father's  face. 
Then,— 

"Who  would  endure 
To  walk  in  doubt  and  darkness  with  misgiving, 

When  He  whose  tender  promises  are  sure — 
The  Crucified,  the  Lord,  the  Ever-living — 

Keeps  us  those  '  mausions  '  evermore  secure, 

By  waters  pure  ? 
O  dear  ones  there, 
Whose  voices  hushed  have  left  our  pathway  lonely, 

We  come,  ere  long,  your  blessed  hope  to  share  I 
We  take  the  guiding  Hand,  we  trust  it  only — 
Seeing,  by  faith,  beyond  the  clouded  air 
That  land  so  fair  1  " 


JOHN  B.  VAWTER. 


J.  B.  VAWTER 


ERHAPS  there  is  not  a  member  of  the  Christian 

Church  in  Iowa  of  ten  years'  standing,  who  has  not 
heard  of  John  B.  Vawter.  Born  near  Madison,  Indi- 
ana, December  19, 1838;  removed  to  Kentucky  with  hie 
parents  in  1855.  Between  the  ages  of  eleven  and  six- 
teen he  went  to  a  three-months  winter  school.  This 
tells  the  story  of  his  education  up  to  that  time. 

From  sixteen  to  twenty-one  he  worked  as  engineer  and  fire- 
man in  his  father's  steam  saw-mill,  with  enough  schooling 
thrown  in  to  make  the  total  about  eighteen  months  at  school 
up  to  that  time.  But  by  self-study,  without  a  teacher,  had 
mastered  the  entire  course  of  mathematics,  including  survey- 
ing, navigation,  mathematical  astronomy  and  calculus.  In 
1860  he  entered  H.  T.  Anderson's  school  at  Midway,  Kentucky, 
studying  Greek  and  Latin  and  teaching  mathematics  to  pay 
board  and  tuition. 

When  the  war  broke  out  the  school  collapsed ;  and  in  July, 
1861,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Fourth  Kentucky  Volunteers 
Infantry,  commanded  by  Col.  S.  S.  Fry.  He  was  with  the  regi- 
ment in  all  its  campaigns  and  battles.  Was  wounded  at  the 
battle  of  Chicamauga ;  and  taken  prisoner  July  30,  1864,  on  the 
McCook  and  Stoneman  raid,  in  the  rear  of  Atlanta,  Georgia. 
Was  taken  to  the  Anderson ville  prison  and  kept  a  prisoner  till 
the  close  of  the  war,  enduring  all  the  privations  of  that  famous 
prison,  when  with  3,200  fellow-prisoners,  he  was  turned  loose  in 
the  swamps  of  Florida,  to  get  to  the  Union  lines  as  best  they 
could.  The  squad  with  which  he  marched  finally  reached  out- 
lines at  Jacksonville,  Florida,  April  .0, 1865,  and  he  was  mustered 
out  June  16, 1865,  having  been  in  the  army  about  four  years. 


438 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


On  his  return  home  he  worked  as  a  machinist  in  Cincinnati, 
till  1867,  when  having  joined  the  church  at  Eighth  and  Walnut 
Streets,  the  year  preceding,  he  entered  Kentucky  University, 
took  a  Bible  course,  and  came  out  in  June,  1S69.  He  came  to 
Iowa  in  July  of  the  same  year  and  located  at  West  Liberty, 
where  in  1870  he  was  married  to  Miss  Flora  Keith,  his  present 
wife. 

He  has  labored  as  pastor  at  West  Liberty,  Kirkville,  Indian- 
ola,  Altoona,  Mitchellville,  and  a  short  time  at  Albia.  But  his 
principal  work  has  been  in  the  capacity  of  State  Evangelist, 
which  position  he  held  for  eight  years.  And  he  has  been  con- 
nected with  our  missionary  work  since  September,  1872.  At  the 
time  he  began  nobody  knew  where  or  how  all  the  churches  in 
the  State  were ;  and  there  was  but  little  money  in  the  treasury 
to  insure  much  work  unless  it  would  prove  speedily  successful. 
The  State,  however,  was  re-districted,  and  he  started  out  to  do 
the  best  he  could  for  the  brotherhood  of  the  State.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  second  year  the  Board  was  $700  behind,  but 
he  toiled  on,  dauntlessly,  and  at  the  end  of  three  years  the 
salary  was  all  paid,  and  the  whereabouts  of  all  the  churches 
known,  as  also  the  condition  of  most  of  them,  and  that  of 
many  sensibly  improved.  Several  of  the  districts  had  been  or- 
ganized and  were  working  together  for  the  good  of  the  whole 
State.  His  work  was  of  great  value  to  the  cause  whose  advo- 
cates only  needed  a  more  thorough  organization  to  "carry  the 
war  into  Africa." 

His  present  home  is  at  Altoona,  in  Polk  County,  near  Des- 
Moines  and  his  field  of  labor  is  Altoona  and  Mitchellville 
churches. 

In  personal  appearance,  he  is  five  feet  seven  inches  high; 
stoutly  built ;  brown  hair;  hazel  eyes;  and  weighs  180  pounds. 
He  is  never  in  a  hurry,  but  always  "gets  there  "  on  time  and 
stays  till  the  business  is  over,  whether  it  be  at  Board  meetings, 
State  Conventions,  Institutes,  or  in  preaching  a  sermon. 

As  a  speaker,  he  is  peculiarly  himself;  very  instructive;  apt 
and  forcible  in  illustrations,  conversational  in  tone,  easy  ges- 
tures, and  withal  spicing  his  sermons  here  and  there  with 
considerable  pathos. 

As  to  matter,  he  is  careful  to  avoid  vain  speculations,  and, 
brushing  away  the  film  of  absolute  forms  of  expression  in  the 


J.  B.  VAWTEB. 


439 


Scriptures  and  bringing  np  from  history  the  names  of  cnstoms 
of  the  times  when  the  Scriptures  were  written,  he  gives  you  the 
practical  bearings  of  the  lesson,  on  the  questions  of  to-day.  He 
is  quick  to  perceive  any  interpretation  of  Scripture,  or  measure 
advocated,  that  points  towards  an  impractical  issue. 

His  work  in  the  ministry  has  been  confined  to  Iowa,  and  his 
labors  have  been  so  abundant  that  his  name  has  become  a 
household  word,  equal  to  those  of  older  men.  He  is  not  troubled 
with  over-estimate  of  himself,  which  in  view  of  eulogies  pro- 
nounced many  times  in  his  favor,  is  a  commendation. 

As  a  writer,  he  possesses  the  faculty  of  saying  what  he  wants 
to,  in  a  way  that  everybody  knows  just  what  he  means;  as  his 
"Prison  Life  in  Dixie,"  and  the  history  in  this  volume  abund- 
antly shoy 


A  BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  THE  IOWA  CHRISTIAN 
CONTENTION. 


BY  J.  B.  VAWTEB. 


fN  the  year  1836,  a  time  when  Iowa,  Wisconsin 
and  Minnesota  were  part  of  the  territory  of 
Michigan,  when  the  population  of  this  vast 
empire  consisted  of  a  few  settlements  of  rag- 
ged pioneers  scattered  along  the  shore  of  the 
Mississippi,  David  R.  Chance,  preached  at  the  cabin 
of  Isaac  Briggs,  near  Lost  Creek,  in  Lee  County.  In 
Jnly  of  that  year  eight  members  were  enrolled,  and 
Lost  Creek  church  was  organized,  and  I  believe  the 
fire  on  its  altar  has  never  gone  out.  This  was  the 
start  of  "  Our  Plea  "  in  Iowa. 

From  1840  to  1850,  emigration  began  to  flow  in  a 
steady  stream  into  our  beautiful  and  fertile  country. 
A  large  portion  of  this  influx  was  from  Ohio  and 
Indiana,  and  of  course  quite  a  sprinkling  of  dis- 
ciples, a  few  of  them  being  preachers,  came  as  home 
seekers. 

Where  three  or  four  families  of  Christians  moved 
into  the  same  neighborhood  they  formed  the  nucleus 
of  a  congregation ;  and  when  not  engaged  in  hard 
pioneer  labor,  the  preachers  rode  from  settlement  to 
settlement  hunting  up  the  brethren  and  planting 
churches.   The  names  and  work  of  some  of  these 

441 


442 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


preachers  have  "been  handed  down  to  us,  but  it  is 
probable  that  some  came,  and  preached  and  labored 
faithfully  for  a  short  time,  and  then  passed  on  leav- 
ing no  record  of  their  work. 

Among  the  prominent  preachers  of  that  period,  was 
John  Rigdon,  who  moved  into  Louisa  County  at  an 
early  day,  and  travelled  and  preached  from  Lee 
County  on  the  south,  to  Jones  County  on  the  north, 
and  as  far  west  as  Keokuk  County,  in  a  kind  of 
irregular  evangelizing.  He  is  described  by  Bro.  F.  B. 
Lowery  as  a  strong  preacher,  reasoning  with  great 
force  and  clearness.  Arthur  Miller  came  and  labored 
for  a  time  in  Henry  County,  and  returned  to  Indiana. 
Charles  Rigdon  in  Keokuk  County,  Levi  Fleming  in 
Davis,  and  H.  H.  Hendrix  in  Wapello,  and  others, 
labored  as  they  had  opportunity,  mostly  at  their  own 
charges. 

During  the  latter  part  of  this  decade,  the  brethren 
began  to  organize  and  co-operate  with  each  other  in 
preaching  the  Gospel,  and  the  preachers  began  to 
give  themselves  wholly  to  the  work. 

About  the  year  1846,  (I  cannot  get  the  exact  date) 
Charles  Levan  came  to  Iowa  and  labored  at  Daven- 
port, Ft.  Madison,  Dubuque,  and  many  inland 
points ;  Aaron  Chatterton  came  soon  after,  and  his 
influence  was  soon  felt  throughout  the  southern  half 
of  the  State ;  H.  C.  Mott  labored  with  great  success 
in  Mahaska,  Monroe,  and  Davis  Counties;  andJ.W. 
Gill  in  Marion,  Polk  and  Dallas. 

There  were  two  or  three  attempts  prior  to  1850  to 
hold  a  State  convention,  but  for  want  of  a  medium 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION.  443 

of  communication,  and  "because  "brethren  in  different 
localities  were  unacquainted  with  each  other,  they 
proved  to  be  only  local  gatherings. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  1849,  the  State  was  divided 
into  three  districts  for  evangelizing  purposes.  Dis- 
trict No.  1,  was  all  the  territory  north  of  the  Wapsi- 
pinicon  river;  No  2,  was  the  territory  "between  the 
Wapsipinicon  and  Iowa  rivers ;  No.  3,  was  all  the 
country  between  the  Iowa  river  and  the  Missouri 
State  line. 

Bro.  Levan  was  one  of  the  prime  movers  in  awak- 
ening the  churches  to  the  need  of  this  work.  He 
had  enjoyed  but  few  educational  advantages,  but  he 
was  a  man  of  zeal  and  energy,  with  faith  in  the  Gos- 
pel and  confidence  in  himself;  and  it  is  largely 
owing  to  his  efforts  that  the  second  district  was  the 
first  to  organize,  pledge  a  salary,  and  send  an  evan- 
gelist into  the  field.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  they 
induced  a  young  man  to  come  from  Ohio  to  labor  as 
district  Evangelist,  at  a  salary  of  three  hundred  dol- 
lars— a  common  salary  in  those  days.  He  engaged  in 
the  work  with  such  energy  and  enthusiasm  that  the 
churches  soon  developed  new  life,  and  "  Our  Cause  " 
in  that  district  put  on  a  strength  and  influence  that 
is  felt  to  this  day. 

That  young  evangelist  isN.  A.McConnell  who  has 
been  for  more  than  thirty  years  a  leader  among  the 
preachers  in  this  State,  and  a  man  of  commanding 
influenee  in  our  conventions. 

During  that  same  year,  1849,  the  churches  in  Mon- 
roe County  formed  a  co-operation  and  employed  an 


444 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


evangelist  named  Blankenship  for  one  year.  His 

report  showed  that  he  "baptized  361  and  added  to  the 
church  sixty  more  who  had  previously  been  bap- 
tized.   (What  became  of  them  ? — Historian.) 

In  January  1850.  Daniel  Bates  began  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Western  Evangelist  at  Mt.  Pleasant. 
Prior  to  this  time  the  brethren  had  no  medium 
through  which  to  communicate  with  each  other,  and 
as  a  result  preachers  and  churches  in  one  part  of 
the  State,  knew  but  little  of  those  in  other  parts. 
This  monthly  periodical  brought  them  into  more 
intimate  relations,  and  helped  to  develop  that  esprit 
de  corps  for  which  the  Hawkeye  brethren  are  noted, 
and  gave  a  new  impulse  to  our  work  throughout  the 
State.  In  the  first  number  of  his  paper,  Bro.  Bates 
called  the  attention  of  the  brethren  to  the  next  State 
meeting,  and  urged  them  to  attend,  and  it  was 
largely  owing  to  his  efforts  that  that  meeting  was  so 
well  attended. 

The  meeting  was  held  in  Marion,  Linn  County. 
May  23d  and  26th.  and  is  the  first  that  is  really 
worthy  the  name  of  State  meeting,  because  it  was  the 
first  meeting  in  which  there  was  anything  like  a  gen- 
eral representati'  -n  of  the  different  parts  of  the  State. 

At  that  meeting  the  brethren  were  called  upon  to 
give  all  the  information  they  possessed,  relative  to 
the  number,  condition,  and  location  of  the  churches. 
Thirty -nine  congregations,  with  an  aggregate  mem- 
bership of  two  thousand  and  nine,  were  reported  to 
the  meeting,  and  the  brethren  promptly  guessed 
that  we  had  over  three  thousand  Disciples  in  the 
State- 


histouv  iowa  christian  conventioit.  445 

The  Slate  was  at  this  time  divided  into  three  co- 
operation districts,  and  it  was  decided  to  make  a 
fourth  by  dividing  the  third,  which  contained  all  the 
territory  southwest  of  the  Iowa  River. 

This  meeting  adjourned  to  meet  at  Oskaloosa, 
September  19th,  of  the  same  year.  It  appointed  no 
Board,  or  executive  committee.  The  Oskaloosa  meet- 
ing took  no  steps  toward  a  permanent  organization. 

Up  to  this  time  the  only  effort  made  toward  organ- 
izing for  systematic  work,  was  the  district  organiza- 
tion, and  the  second  district  was  the  only  one 
actually  at  work. 

In  May,  1851,  Arthur  Miller  returned  to  Iowa  and 
took  the  field  as  Evangelist  in  the  third  district,  and 
in  1852  Bro.  Martindale  worked  three  months  in  the 
first,  and  Bro.  Mott  was  engaged  in  the  fourth.  In 
the  meantime  Pardee  Butler  had  been  engaged  to 
assist  Bro.  McConnell,  in  the  second. 

These  district  organizations  were  not  purely  mis- 
sionary in  their  intentions,  but  were  entered  into  by 
the  churches,  mainly  to  obtain  preaching  for  them- 
selves, each  congregation  pledging  so  much  money 
for  the  support  of  an  Evangelist,  with  the  expecta- 
tion that  he  would  work  it  out  in  their  immediate 
vicinity.  A  few  churches  employed  additional 
preaching  for  one-fourth  or  more  of  the  time,  but  the 
majority  depended  on  the  district  Evangelist  for  all 
they  obtained,  and  because  the  Evangelist  could  not 
visit  them  as  often  and  remain  as  long  as  they 
thought  he  ought,  they  failed  to  pa)'  up  their 
pledges  for  his  support,  and  as  a  matter  of  course, 


446 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


this  soon  caused  dissatisfaction  and  worked  the  de- 
struction of  the  district  organization. 

During'  the  time  that  fchey  worked,  onr  cause  pros- 
pered. Little  hands  of  Disciples  strengthened, 
cl  i  arches  organized  and  the  work  pushed  forward 
throughout  the  entire  territory.  As  an  illustration, 
the  third  district  (Miller's),  composed  of  Lee,  Van 
Buren,  DesMoines,  Henry,  Louisa  and  Washington 
Counties,  reported  at  the  close  of  their  first  year's 
work,  seventeen  churches  in  good  working  order, 
meeting  regularly,  with  an  aggregate  membership 
of  60S,  165  having  been  added  during  the  year. 

The  same  year  district  No.  2  (McConnell,  Evangel- 
ist) reported  ten  churches  with  an  aggregate  mem- 
bership of  504, 192  added  during  the  year;  and  No. 
4,  (Mott,  Evangelist)  reported  ten  churches  east  of  the 
western  line  of  Mai  la  ska  and  Monroe  Counties — the 
churches  west  of  that  line  not  reporting — with  an  ag- 
gregate of  481  members,  ninetj^-four  being  additions 
during  the  year.  The  next  year  not  a  single  district 
was  reported  in  working  order,  most  of  them  having 
died  of  neglect,  without  paying  to  their  Evangelists 
the  salaries  agreed  upon. 

About  this  time  Charles  Levan,  John  Rigdon  and 
other  pioneers  left  the  State,  and  a  wild  fever  of  emi- 
gration to  Oregon  and  California  swept  away  hun- 
dreds of  Disciples,  in  places  taking  almost  entire 
churches.  The  natural  result  followed :  the  preach- 
ers located  with  the  strong  churches  in  order  to  get 
a  support,  and  for  want  of  co-operation  the  weak 
churches  perished. 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION.  447 

The  brethren  who  composed  the  State  meetings  in 
1852  and  1853,  instead  of  working  resolutely  to  check 
this  sad  disintegration  of  our  forces,  spent  almost 
the  entire  time  of  the  convention  discussing  Bible  re- 
vision ;  but  in  1854,  steps  were  taken,  looking  toward 
a  State  organization  for  mission  work.  The  next 
year  they  got  to  work  as  a  State  Missionary  Society 
with  constitution  and  laws  similar  to  our  present 
L  C.  C.  Bro.  McConnell  was  put  into  the  field  as 
Corresponding  Secretary  and  financial  agent,  and 
Bro.  A.  Miller  worked  as  Evangelist  for  a  part  of 
the  year. 

At  the  first  annual  meeting  of  this  Society,  held  in 
Marion  in  1856,  Bro.  McConnell's  report  showed  that 
he  had  recieved  pledges  for  ' Life '  and  'Annual' 
memberships,  amounting  to  $2,589,  and  had  collected 
cash,  $682. 

The  next  year  the  report  was  still  better,  showing 
$4,970  in  membership  pledges  and  $1,364  cash ;  and 
three  or  four  Evangelists  had  been  employed  by  the 
Board.  The  year  following,  where  we  would  look 
for  still  better  results,  we  find  dissatisfaction  and 
complaint.  The  Society  met  in  Fort  Madison,  and 
there  seemed  to  be  some  dissatisfaction  concerning 
the  employment  of  some  of  the  Evangelists,  and  there 
was  not  money  enough  in  the  treasury  to  pay  them. 

This  meeting  adjourned  to  meet  in  Mount  Pleasant 
the  same  year,  when  another  attempt  was  made  to 
adjust  their  difficulties ;  but  they  owed  $400  and 
there  was  nothing  in  the  treasury,  so  they  decided 
not  to  employ  any  more  labor  till  that  was  paid. 
Thus  the  first  State  Society  died. 


448 


THE  IOWA  PULl'IT. 


During  this  period  of  our  history,  while  those  who 
made  preaching  their  main  business,  obtained  pre- 
carious support,  and  our  cause  suffered  loss  for  want 
of  organization,  by  allowing  many  weak  churches  to 
die,  still,  though  often  changing  fields,  many  preach- 
ers continued  in  the  work,  and  the  number  increased 
from  year  to  year  and  many  weak  churches,  after  a 
long  season  of  torpor,  revived  and  grew  strong,  so 
that  although  we  did  not  make  the  progress  we 
should  have  made,  our  movement  was  onward. 

In  the  year  1852,  Bro.  D.  P.  Henderson  was  asso- 
ciated with  Bro.  Bates  in  the  publication  of  the 
Evangelist,  and  it  was  issued  from  Fort  Madison, 
Iowa,  and  Canton,  Missouri,  aspiring  to  be  the  organ 
of  the  Church  in  both  States.  Under  this  manage- 
ment the  paper  did  much  to  develop  and  foster  the 
educational  spirit  among  the  Iowa  brethren,  and 
worked  especially  to  build  up  Christian  University, 
located  at  Canton. 

At  two  State  meetings  resolutions  were  passed 
urging  the  brethren  to  patronize  and  support  that 
institution,  but  other  tendencies  were  at  work  in  the 
State  which  soon  changed  the  course  of  the  educa- 
tional zeal  developed  by  the  Evangelist. 

At  that  time  James  Mitchell  was  located  as  pas- 
tor at  Dubuque,  J.  E.  Gaston  was  at  Davenport, 
Pardee  Butler  was  working  in  Scott  and  Clinton 
Counties,  and  the  churches  in  Linn  county  were 
growing  in  number,  influence  and  good  works,  under 
the  lead  of  McConnell.  Mount  Pleasant  in  the  pas- 
toral care  of  J.  Grant  and  A.  Miller  was  looked  to 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION.  449 


as  a  kind  of  religious  center  by  the  brethren,  though 
our  growth  in  counties  farther  west  was  destined 
soon  to  change  this  center. 

The  church  at  Drakeville,  under  the  care  of  Levi 
Fleming,  was  already  the  largest  in  the  State,  and 
the  churches  at  Oskaloosa  and  vicinity  were  grow- 
ing rapidly. 

Bro.  H.  C.  Mott  came  to  Mahaska  county  in  1849, 
and  labored  earnestly  and  successfully  in  all  the 
region  roundabout.  In  1851  he  was  elected  Evange- 
list of  the  4th  district  and  labored  for  a  few  months 
with  great  acceptance,  but  in  May,  1852,  he  was 
taken  witli  lung  fever  and  died,  at  Oskaloosa,  in  the 
thirty- sixth  year  of  his  age. 

He  was  followed  at  Oskaloosa  by  A.  Chatterton, 
one  of  the  most  influential  ministers  in  the  State, 
and  the  work  so  well  planted  by  him  was  cultivated 
and  developed  by  his  successor  until  it  was  known, 
and  its  influence  was  felt  throughout  the  State. 

"When  addresses  were  delivered  to  the  annual 
State  meeting  on  the  importance  of  building  institu- 
tions of  learning,  it  was  but  natural  for  each  of 
these  ambitious  centers  to  say,  "  Build  it  here." 

This  feeling  culminated  at  the  State  meeting  held 
in  Marion,  in  June,  1856,  in  a  series  of  resolutions  to 
the  effect  that,  the  Iowa  brethren  would  build  and 
endow  a  college.  That  they  would  locate  it  in  the 
town  offering  the  most  money.  And  calling  an  ed- 
ucational convention  to  meet  in  Oskaloosa,  October 
10th  of  the  same  year. 


450 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Only  twelve  churches  with  an  aggregate  member- 
ship of  107] ,  were  represented  in  the  convention  at 
the  time  and  place  above  named.  They  organized 
by  calling  Joshua  Swallow  to  the  chair,  and  appoint- 
ing A.  Hull,  secretary.  The  final  result  reached  by 
this  convention  was,  that  they  decided  to  locate  the 
college  at  Oskaloosa,  on  condition  that  the  people 
of  that  vicinity  would  raise  thirty  thousand  dollars. 
They  selected  a  Board  of  fifteen  trustees  and  in- 
structed them  to  incorporate  the  school,  appoint 
agents  to  raise  endowments  and  to  erect  a  suitable 
building,  and  the  work  was  started. 

The  panic  of  1857  and  the  hard  times  set  in  soon 
after,  and  1861  the  college  was  reported  to  the  State 
meeting  as  being  in  debt,  with  its  building  unfinished 
and  much  of  its  subscription  worthless.  The  outlook 
was  certainly  a  dark  one,  and  to  a  people  of  weak 
faith  and  courage  would  have  been  disheartening. 

But  this  convention  was  the  largest  and  most  en- 
thusiastic ever  held  by  us  up  to  that  time,  and  it 
grappled  with  the  college  question  in  genuine  Hawk- 
eye  style.  Made  arrangements  to  i  elieve  the  pres- 
ent distress,  and  appointed  N.  A.  McConnell,  N.  E. 
Cory,  P.  T.  Russell  and  F.  Walden  agents  to  raise 
a  relief  fund. 

This  work  was  carried  forward  with  such  energy, 
that  at  the  next  meeting  they  reported  the  building 
finished,  school  opened  and  the  liabilities  of  the  in- 
stitution reduced  from  $13,315  to  $2,200. 

Fortunately  the  preachers  present  at  this  conven- 
tion enrolled  their  names,  and  they  are  worthy  of 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION".  451 


preservation  in  permanent  form,  so  that  the  student 
of  history  may  know  who  filled  the  pulpit  of  the 
Christian  church  in  Iowa,  in  the  year  of  grace  1861. 
The  following  is  the  list : 

Joshua  Swallow,  Knoxville ;  Jas.  Challen,  Daven- 
port ;  A  Chatterton,  Davenport ;  P.  T.  Russell,  Adel ; 
J.  M.  Dodge,  Adel;  R.  Garriott,  Albia;  Julius 
Stevens,  Eldora;  John  Snoddy,  Bloomfield;  Reuben 
Wilson,  Greencastle;  Robert  Reed,  Blakesburg;  G. 
D.  Berry,  Toledo ;  C.  P.  Evans,  Jeddo  City  ;  J.  K. 
Cornell,  Mt.  Sterling ;  S.  H.  Bonham,  Frank  Pierce ; 
Charles  Rowe,  Epworth ;  Wm.  G.  Springer,  Millers- 
burg;  Win.  L.  Darland,  Agricola;  F.  White,  Forest 
Home ;  John  Kimmons,  Des  Moines ;  D.  M.  Haggard, 
Peosta;  E.  Scott,  South  English;  T.  Q.  Mathes, 
South  English ;  J.  B.  Nbe,  Winterset ;  G.  T.  Carpen- 
ter, Winterset ;  James  Connoran,  Clarinda ;  A.  Hull, 
Ashland ;  F.  Walden,  Ashland ;  N.  E.  Cory,  Oska- 
loosa ;  T.  W.  Dunkeson,  Oskaloosa ;  Peter  Shuck, 
Eddyville;  N.  A.  McConnell,  Marion;  J.  C.  R<-ed, 
Springfield ;  Job  Combs,  Cuba  ;  F.  A.  Rodgers,  Gos- 
port ;  D.  Caldwell,  Abingdon ;  A.  Fisher,  Indian- 
apolis ;  0.  P.  Hixon,  Marietta. 

In  the  year  1851,  Bro.  Bates  published  in  the 
Western  Evangelist,  that  we  had  seven  ministers 
in  the  State  who  made  preaching  their  main  busi- 
ness,  and  lived  of  the  gospel.  A  careful  study  of 
this  list  causes  me  to  think  that  we  had  little  more 
than  doubled  that  number  in  ten  years,  while  dur- 
ing the  same  decade  the  population  of  the  State  was 
more  than  trebled. 


452 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


In  September  of  that  year  Gt.  T.  and  W.  J .  Car- 
penter opened  the  preparatory  department  of  Oska- 
loosa  College,  taking  all  risk  of  financial  support, 
as  in  the  embarrassed  condition  of  the  treasury,  the 
trustees  could  offer  them  no  definite  amount ;  and 
so  the  Iowa  brethren  had  an  institution  of  learning 
in  fact. 

At  the  next  State  meeting,  held  in  Des  Moines,  in 
June,  1862,  as  above  stated,  the  financial  condition 
and  prospects  of  the  college  were  much  improved, 
and  the  trustees  were  instructed  to  engage  a  faculty, 
and  to  employ  at  least  one  financial  agent.  At  this 
meeting  we  notice  a  number  of  new  men  among  the 
Iowa  ministers.  The  names  of  Samuel  and  Joseph 
Lowe,  J.  P.  Roach,  J.  C.  Porter,  J.  C.  White  and  A. 
Williams  among  them. 

That  meeting  transacted  no  business  of  any 
permanent  value  except  its  work  in  behalf  of  the 
college,  and  adjourned  without  appointing  any 
Board  or  committee  to  perpetuate  its  existence.  But 
at  our  next  convention,  held  in  Marion,  in  1863,  the 
pressing  needs  of  the  college  having  been  provided 
for,  the  brethren  turned  their  attention  to  the  desti- 
tute condition  of  our  cause  throughout  the  State. 
They  turned  the  State  meeting  once  more  into  a  Mis- 
sionary Society,  elected  a  Board  and  sent  Bro. 
McConnell,  that  veteran  missionary,  into  the  field  as 
State  Evangelist.  He  began  this  term  of  service,  I 
think,  the  first  of  August,  1863,  in  the  midst  of  the 
war  period,  when  the  nation  was  panting  and  strug- 
gling for  its  life,  when  the  drum- tap  and  the  bugle- 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION.  453 

blast  were  heard  in  every  village,  calling  upon  men 
to  follow  Mars,  lie  went  forth  to  hunt  up  the  feeble, 
dilapidated,  discouraged,  scattered  Disciples,  that 
he  might  strengthen  them,  and  encourage  them  to 
hold  fast  the  faith.  When,  to  use  his  own  graphic 
language,  because  he  had  no  politics,  and  was  de- 
termined to  know  nothing  but  Christ  and  Him  cruci- 
fied, in  Northern  Iowa  they  wanted  to  shoot  him 
for  being  a  rebel,  and  along  the  Missouri  Border, 
they  wanted  to  hang  him  for  being  an  abolitionist. 
His  work  was  reasonably  prosperous  even  in  those 
troubled  times,  but  does  not  seem  to  have  been  well 
supported. 

In  order  to  secure  more  money,  and  a  more  com- 
pact organization,  the  brethren  at  the  State  meeting 
held  in  Oskaloosa  in  August,  1865,  adopted  a  con- 
stitution providing  for  Life  and  Annual  Member- 
ships, in  the  main,  similar  to  our  present  constitution, 
and  Bro.  McConnell  was  continued  in  the  field  as 
Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  new  society.  Under 
this  new  arrangement  he  traveled  throughout  the 
State,  organizing  district  auxiliary  societies,  compos- 
ed of  the  members  of  the  State  Society,  and  putting 
Evangelists  to  work  in  the  districts.  His  report  to  the 
next  convention  (1866)  shows  that  he  had  planted  a 
grand  system,  which  needed  but  to  be  fostered  for 
a  few  years,  to  yield  an  immense  harvest ;  but  the 
society  was  in  debt  to  him  for  part  of  his  salary,  a 
good  many  Life  Members  were  delinquent,  the  treas- 
ury was  empty,  and  hence  he  was  allowed  to  retire 
from  the  work.    Bro.  Walden  was  elected  Corres- 


454 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


ponding  Secretary  with  the  understanding  that  he 
would  not  go  into  the  field,  and  thus  this  second 
society,  organized  at  so  much  expense  of  money, 
time  and  energy,  was  allowed  to  break  in  pieces 
and  die ;  and  the  shadow  on  the  dial  went  hack- 
ward  fifteen  degrees. 

At  the  next  convention  held  in  Davenport,  in 
August,  1867,  the  Board  had  nothing  to  report.  The 
district  organizations  depending  on  the  State  Society, 
had  followed  in  its  wake,  and  there  was  no  organ- 
ized systematic  effort  anywhere  to  hold  our  ground 
in  Iowa.  Of  course  the  brethren  in  that  convention 
decided  that  our  "  Plan  "  did  not  work.  This  con- 
vention thought  that  our  meetings  should  be  com- 
posed wholly  of  delegates  from  the  churches,  instead 
of  members  of  a  Missionary  Society.  They  however 
continued  the  officers  of  the  old  society  for  another 
year. 

The  next  State  meeting  was  held  in  Albia.  It 
was  a  large  and  enthusiastic  convention,  full  of  warm 
speeches,  and  hearty  resolutions,  on  almost  every 
subject  connected  with  church  work. 

The  needs  of  Oskaloosa  college  were  again  brought 
forward,  and  absorbed  the  liberality  of  the  brethren ; 
$1,600  was  pledged  to  pay  its  president's  salary, 
while  not  one  dollar  was  raised  for  evangelizing  pur- 
poses, not  even  to  pay  the  debt  they  owed  to  their 
former  Corresponding  Secretary. 

This  meeting  appointed  a  committee  of  one  from 
each  congregational  district  to  collect  statistics  of 
our  churches. 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION".  455 

The  committee  reported  to  the  meeting  held  in 
Des  Moines  in  1869.  They  expended  $24.50  in  the 
work  of  collecting  statistics,  and  their  report  shows : 
Churches  143;  preachers  132;  members  10,592; 
meeting  houses  50 ;  Sunday-schools  67. 

They  admitted  that  their  work  was  very  incom- 
plete. Other  prominent  brethren  were  confident 
that  we  would  number  20,000  members.  The  discus- 
sion of  this  report  showed,  that  many  churches  were 
not  meeting,  that  where  churches  had  been  planted, 
they  were  left  without  care,  and  many  of  them  were 
scattered  and  dead,  while  others  in  the  same  dis- 
trict were  growing  and  prosperous. 

Though  there  -were  some  bright,  cheerful  views 
given,  the  picture  was  as  a  whole  discouraging. 

This  convention  elected  an  Evangelizing  Board 
consisting  of  A.  Hickey,  President;  J.  K.  Cornell, 
Vice-President;  F.  "Walden,  Secretary;  and  J.  H. 
Drake,  Treasurer;  and  James  Connoran,  with  in- 
struction to  await  the  action  of  the  General  Conven- 
tion, and  if,  in  their  judgment,  the  plan  of  co-oper- 
ation adopted  by  that  meeting,  would  be  adapted  to 
our  wants  in  Iowa,  to  proceed  to  organize  in  har- 
mony with  it.  But  if  they  thought  the  plan  not 
practicable  for  the  brethren  in  Iowa,  to  proceed  in 
their  own  way  and  organize  for  the  evangelizing  of 
the  State. 

The  weak  and  vacillating  policy  of  getting  up 
elaborate  plans  and  constitutions  for  missionary 
work,  organizing  societies  and  boards  and  then  al- 
lowing them  to  starve  for  want  of  funds ;  to  be  fol- 


456 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


lowed  in  two  or  three  years  by  other  plans,  socie- 
ties and  boards,  which  in  time  suffer  the  same  neg- 
lect, was  not  peculiar  to  the  churches  in  Iowa. 
With  a  few  changes  in  names  and  dates,  the  main 
feature  of  the  foregoing  history  could  be  used  for 
our  brethren  in  other  States.  As  a  rule  our  failure 
to  work  together  in  sounding  out  the  gospel  was 
charged  to  some  fault  in  the  plan,  and  hence  this 
constant  changing  of  plans. 

The  real  trouble,  carefully  concealed  by  our  de- 
nominational pride,  was  that  we  were  not  really  a 
missionary  people.  Opposition  to  plans,  and  de- 
manding a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  was  often  a  cloak 
of  jealousy,  selfishness,  or  to  cover  up  our  delin- 
quency, so  cunningly  devised  and  persistently  worn, 
as  to  deceive  the  very  elect.  There  was  always  a 
goodly  number  of  individuals  and  congregations 
that  were  ready  to  work  by  any  plan,  and  were  con- 
tinually trying  to  do  something  and  calling  on 
others  to  help  them.  These  would  never  let  the 
subject  rest  long  at  a  time,  and  hence  this  constant 
agitation  and  frequent  organization. 

The  unmissionary  preachers  were  of  two  classes  : 
The  opposers  who  stay  away  from  conventions  and 
preachers  institutes  and  oppose  all  societies  and 
organizations  for  co-operative  work;  and  a  class 
for  whom  I  have  no  good  name  without  resorting  to 
slang ;  they  attend  all  conventions,  make  eloquent 
miesionary  speeches,  pass  strong  missionary  resolu- 
tions, thrill  the  convention  by  denouncing  those 
who  are  absent,  and  go  home  and  never  mention 


HI8T0KY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION.  457 


missions  again  till  the  next  annual  convention, 
when  they  come  up  fresh  and  vigorous,  prepared  to 
pass  another  set  of  resolutions,  retiring  the  old 
board  and  changing  the  plan.  A  remnant  of  both 
these  classes  remains  to  the  present  time,  but  they 
are  not  so  potent  for  mischief  as  they  once  were. 

In  1869  being  weary  of  endless  debates  about 
plans,  and  saddened  by  the  chaos  and  confusion 
that  was  weakening  our  cause  in  many  places,  the 
church  in  Iowa  in  common  with  our  brethren  in 
other  States,  were  waiting  for  the  plan  of  co-opera- 
tion that  would  be  adopted  by  the  General  Conven- 
tion. It  met  in  October,  in  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
and  the  plan  adopted  was  known  as  the  "Louisville 
plan." 

It  was  a  well  devised  system  for  the  organization 
of  our  entire  brotherhood  into  one  grand  army,  Avith 
its  divisions  of  States  and  sub-divisions  of  districts. 
Our  people  were  not  ripe  for  so  thorough  an  organ- 
ization at  that  time,  and  while  it  gave  a  greater  im- 
petus toward  organization,  it  was  trimmed  and  mod- 
ified and  finally  abandoned. 

Though  by  some  it  was  violently  opposed,  and  by 
others  considered  impractical,  I  predict  that  if  we 
ever  become  a  thoroughly  co-operative  people,  we 
will  be  found  working  in  harmony  with  the  leading 
features  of  the  "Louisville  plan,"  for  the  organiza- 
tion and  unification  of  our  forces. 

The  last  of  December,  1869,  our  State  Board  met 
in  Albia,  and  after  careful  examination,  decided  to 
work  in  harmony  with  this  plan,  and  to  divide  the 
State  into  four  districts  for  that  purpose. 


458 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


At  the  Annual  Convention  held  in  Marion,  in 
August,  1870,  the  Board  reported  that  they  had  or- 
ganized District  Boards  in  all  parts  of  the  districts, 
and  had  induced  a  few  churches  to  adopt  the  plau 
and  send  contributions  to  the  treasurers. 

No  missionary  work  was  done  and  only  about 
forty  dollars  had  been  contributed  to  the  treasury. 
Forty  dollars !  Enough  to  hold  a  two  weeks  meet- 
ing! In  the  whole  State  of  Iowa!  Forty  dollars ! 
But  think.  That  money  was  missionary.  The 
churches  giving  it  did  not  expect  any  of  it  to  come 
back  to  them. 

It  was  to  preach  to  the  destitute. 

Think  again.  It  was  contributed.  No  financial 
agent  had  solicited  it.  No  evangelist  had  collected 
it.  It  was  sent  to  the  board.  It  was  a  seed.  Des- 
tined to  grow  into  vast  proportions  as  the  years  go 
on. 

This  convention  elected  a  board  consisting  of  A. 
Hickey,  President ;  F.  Walden,  Secretary ;  J.  H. 
Drake.  Treasurer ;  J.  W.  McGrlasson  and  M.  Hulbert. 
It  elected  N.  E.  Cory,  State  evangelist ;  but  he  could 
not  be  induced  to  take  the  work.  It  also  endorsed 
the  organization  so  far  as  it  had  been  effected  by 
the  former  Board,  and  resolved  to  work  in  harmony 
with  the  ''plan"  and  hence  this  convention  is  the 
first  of  our  present  organizations. 

Soon  after  this  meeting  the  Southwest  district 
composed  of  all  the  territory  south  and  west  of  the 
northwest  corner  of  Jasper  county,  was  fully  organ- 
ized with  D.  D.  Miller  at  work  as  District  Evangelist. 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION.  459 

fie  was  a  man  of  energy,  held  many  successful 
meetings,  planted  a  good  many  little  churches,  "but 
as  he  did  not  group  them  together,  and  organize 
them  so  that  they  could  support  pastoral  labor,  but 
simply  left  them  to  care  for  themselves,  his  work 
fell  down  about  as  fast  as  he  set  it  up ;  and  resulted 
in  no  permanent  good.  He  opposed  the  "  Louisville 
plan  "  of  co-operation,  and  during  the  time  that  he 
labored  his  district  did  not  co-operate  with  the 
State  Convention. 

A  few  months  later,  beginning  in  January,  1871, 
John  Errett  labored  as  district  evangelist  in  the 
Southeast  district  for  about  four  months  when  he 
was  taken  sick  and  had  to  quit  work.  His  work 
was  mainly  an  effort  to  induce  the  churches  to 
adopt  a  financial  system  for  raising  mission  funds, 
and  his  efforts  were  so  far  successful  as  to  largely 
increase  the  contributions  in  his  district,  and  had 
he  been  permitted  to  continue,  would  have  probably 
reached  still  greater  results.  But  this  was  his  last 
work ;  the  disease  that  forced  him  to  cease  his  work 
proved  fatal.  He  died  a  few  months  later  at  Colum- 
bus City 

The  second  State  Convention  was  held  in  Oska- 
loosa  in  August,  1871.  The  Board  reported  their  • 
work  was  badly  crippled  for  want  of  a  State  Evan- 
gelist. Ten  months  of  missionary  work  had  been 
done  by  the  districts,  resulting  in  eighty-seven  ad- 
ditions to  the  churches;  $1,068  had  been  paid  into 
the  district  treasuries,  of  which  $139  had  come  into 
the  State  treasury ;  only  the  Southeast  district 


460 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


dividing  according  to  the  plan.  ^This  convention 
contributed  $73  to  the  General  Convention,  elected 
J.  C.  Hay  State  Evangelist  and  selected  a  Board 
consisting  of  J.  M.  Williams,  J.  C.  White,  F.  E. 
Nypher,  and  J.  W.  Porter,  all  of  Iowa  City. 

Bro.  Hay  entered  upon  his  work  with  enthusiasm, 
and  in  the  eight  months  that  he  was  able  to  give  to 
it,  did  a  most  excellent  work.  A  summary  of  his 
report,  shows  that  during  the  year,  twenty  months 
of  missionary  labor  had  been  done  by  the  State  and 
District  Boards.  One  hundred  and  eighty -four  mem- 
bers gained,  six  churches  organized,  and  $2,26315 
contributed  by  the  churches,  and  raised  by  the 
Evangelists ;  of  which  $400  came  into  the  State 
treasury.  Note  the  growth  for  three  years,  first  $40, 
second  $139,  third  $400,  a  healthy  development,  but 
as  yet  the  Southeast  district  was  the  only  one  mak- 
ing dividends  with  the  convention. 

This  summaiy  does  not  show  all  of  Bro.  Hay's 
work,  or  even  the  most  important  part  of  it.  He 
assisted  a  number  of  preachers  to  find  fields,  by 
putting  them  in  correspondence  with  destitute 
churches,  thus  benefitting  both.  But  the  most  im- 
portant work  that  he  did,  was  collecting  statistical 
information  concerning  our  churches.  In  this  he 
succeeded  in  finding  out,  approximately,  the  loca- 
tion and  condition,  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-three 
churches  and  unorganized  bands  of  brethren,  ob- 
tained names  and  addresses  of  preachers,  and  lead- 
ing brethren  throughout  (he  State,  and  prepared  a 
map  showing  the  parts  of  the  State  occupied  by  the 


HI8T0BY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION.  4G1 

Disciples.  This  information  was  of  great  value  to 
his  successor  in  the  work. 

The  convention  to  which  this  report  was  made, 
met  in  Davenport,  August  27,  1872.  This  meeting 
on  the  recommendation  of  ite  former  Board,  in- 
structed its  new  Board  to  redistrict  the  State,  mak- 
ing smaller  districts.  It  elected  J.  K.  Cornell, 
President;  J.  C.  Hay,  Vice-President;  S.  E.  Pearre, 
Secretary ;  and  J.  C.  Porter,  Treasurer.  It  would 
have  been  pleased  to  continue  Bro.  Hay  as  Evangel 
-ist,  but  he  could  not  continue  in  the  field,  and  J.  B. 
Vawter  was  selected  as  his  successor. 

The  first  work  before  the  new  Board  was  to  re  • 
organize  the  State  in  smaller  districts.  The  North- 
eastern, with  Bro.  E.  T.  C.  Bennett  as  Evangelist, 
was  doing  a  very  good  work,  and  asked  the  Board 
to  let  their  district  remain  as  it  was.  This  left  us 
three-fourths  of  the  State  in  which  to  try  the  smaller 
districts. 

The  Evangelist,  with  Bro.  Hay's  church  map  as  a 
guide  book,  went  into  the  territory,  visited  the 
churches,  presented  and  explained  our  plan  and  its 
objects,  called  the  brethren  together,  and  organized 
the  districts.  In  this  way  he  personally  canvassed, 
and  organized  five  districts  in  full  accord  with  the 
plan — co-operating  with,  the  State  Board. 

While  making  this  canvass,  he  found  that  in  a 
number  of  places  where  churches  were  marked  on 
his  map,  they  were  entirely  dormant ;  holding  no 
meetings  ol^any  kind,  and  some  of  them  were  dis- 
organized and  dead.    After  organizing  the  districts, 


4G2 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


the  next  work  undertaken  by  the  Board,  was  to  re- 
vive those  dormant  churches  and  get  them  to  work. 
They  succeeded,  during  the  year,  in  renewing  the 
life  in  eight  of  them,  and  located  four  pastors  in 
what  had  been  waste-places. 

The  churches  in  co-operation  with  the  Board  that 
year,  contributed  $813,  and  with  this,  the  Board  de- 
veloped in  building  funds,  pastors'  salaries,  payment 
of  debts,  and  special  collections,  $5,479. 

This  Board  took  the  necessary  steps  to  incorpor- 
ate our  organization  according  to  the  laws  of  Iowa, 
naming  it  the  Iowa  Christian  Convention. 

The  large  and  spirited  convention  that  met  in  Des 
Moines  October  7th  of  that  year,  (1873),  endorsed  this 
work  by  re-electing  the  Board,  with  instructions  to 
continue  the  work  of  organizing  the  districts,  and 
reviving  the  languishing  churches. 

During  the  following  year,  the  sixth  —  the  old 
Northeast — came  into  line,  and  the  Board  organized 
three  more  districts,  making  nine  altogether.  But 
two  of  them  proved  failures  from  the  start,  only  two 
or  three  churches  in  each  one,  doing  anything,  and 
they  doing  very  little. 

In  the  working  districts,  the  secretaries  wrote 
cards  or  letters  to  the  churches,  asking  them  to  con- 
tribute to  the  work.  The  monej7  so  collected,  was 
divided  between  the  district  and  State  treasuries. 
The  Board  had  no  soliciting  agents  or  collectors,  but 
simply  asked  the  churches  to  raise  and  forward  the 
money,  and  they  expended  it  in  purely  missionary 
work,  in  destitute  fields.    None  of  the  districts  were 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN"  CONVENTION".  463 

able  to  keep  a  man  in  the  field  for  all  his  time,  but 
employed  an  Evangelist  for  such  time  as  they  could 
pay  for.  Sometimes  their  own  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary was  engaged  to  do  the  work,  and  sometimes 
they  employed  the  State  Evangelist  to  work  out 
their  share  of  the  funds  under  the  direction  of  the 
District  Board. 

The  secretaries  did  a  great  deal  of  gratuitous 
work,  in  writing  to  the  churches  and  keeping  the 
accounts,  and  the  activity  of  the  districts  depended 
largely  on  them.  Among  many  good  workers,  it  is 
not  invidious  to  mention  the  names  of  A.  Williams, 
A.  Hickey,  J.  K.  Cornell,  L.  C.  Wilson.  L.  S.  Brown 
and  A.  C.  Corbin,  as  among  the  most  persistent  and 
successful,  in  keeping  the  churches  in  active  co- 
operation with  the  Board.  The  success  of  our  plan, 
was  largely  due  to  their  work  as  district  secretaries. 

In  1872,  there  were  only  eighteen  churches  making 
regular  contributions,  to  be  divided  according  to  the 
plan.  In  1873,  there  were  seventy  six,  and  in  1874, 
there  were  112  that  had  made  one  or  more  contribu- 
tions, before  the  meeting  of  the  State  Convention. 

At  the  Annual  meeting  held  in  Fairfield,  Septem- 
ber 25th,  1874,  work  on  the  "Louisville  Plan" 
reached  high  water  mark  in  Iowa,  with  one  Tiund r<  d 
and  twelve  churches  in  active  co-operation.  The 
next  year  there  was  a  falling  off,  not  because  the 
churches  had  tired  of  the  work  but  because  the  con- 
vention had  confused  them  by  a  partial  change  in 
our  plan. 

Among  other  good  works  undertaken  by  the 


464 


'  THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


Board  that  year,  was  the  establishing  of  a  church  in 
Burlington,  and  the  purchase  of  a  church  building. 

In  January  the  State  evangelist  visited  the  place, 
found  a  little  band  of  brethren  meeting  in  an  obscure 
part  of  the  town  where  it  was  impossible  for  them 
to  accomplish  anything  in  the  way  of  building  up 
the  cause.  There  was  a  good  church  building  in  a 
desirable  locality  of  the  city  for  sale.  The  leading 
brethren  of  the  church  and  the  Evangelist  canvassed 
the  matter  and  found  that  the  property  could  be 
bought  for  $4,200,  and  with  the  understanding  that 
the  church  would  raise  one-half  the  sum,  and  the 
convention  the  other  half,  we  bought  the  property. 
The  work  started  olf  in  a  promising  manner,  the 
Evangelist  remained  with  them  for  three  months ; 
then,  as  work  in  other  parts  of  the  field  demanded 
his  attention,  he  left  them  and  they  employed  H. 
H.  Black  as  pastor. 

Had  they  continued  to  work  in  harmony  they 
could  easily  have  paid  their  part  of  the  debt  in  a 
few  years,  and  the  convention  would  have  paid  its 
shaie,  and  we  would  have  had  a  good  church,  in  a 
good  house  there  to-day;  but  before  a  year  had 
passed  they  got  into  one  of  those  disgraceful  and 
disastrous  church  quarrels  that  crippled  their  work. 
Of  course  the  whole  church  was  not  to  blame ;  a  few 
did  the  mischief,  but  they  all  suffered  the  conse- 
quences. 

This  Burlington  mission  was  a  disturbing  and  dis- 
couraging factor  in  our  State  work,  until  the  close 
of  1877,  when  the  Board  was  forced  to  abandon  it, 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION.  465 

after  expending  a  good  deal  of  money  and  time  in 
trying  to  save  it,  because  the  church  there  would 
not  make  the  effort  to  help  itself. 

At  the  Fairfield  meeting  pledges  were  taken  for 
the  Burlington  mission  amounting  to  about  $800. 
This  was  the  intering  wedge  for  the  destruction  of 
our  district  organization.  A  good  many  of  our 
strong  churches  at  this  meeting,  pledged  to  this 
special  fund  about  as  much  as  they  felt  able  to  pay 
and  hence  did  not  respond  to  the  District  Secretary's 
appeal ;  his  report  showed  a  falling  off  of  the  re- 
ceipts, and  this  in  turn  discouraged  others,  andgave 
to  the  grumblers  the  first  chance  they  had  enjoyed 
in  three  years  of  saying,  "I  told  you  it  wouldn't 
work." 

The  report  of  the  Board  to  the  convention  that 

met  in  Eldora  in  1875,  showed  that  there  had  been  a 
falling  off  in  every  district  but  one  for  that  year. 
The  convention  had  not  been  able  to  pay  the  Evan- 
gelist his  full  salary  any  year  since  its  organization, 
but  had  rolled  the  debt  forward  from  year  to  year. 
For  this  reason  the  Board,  that  year,  allowed  the 
Evangelist  to  locate  and  spend  part  of  his  time  with 
the  church  at  Albia,  they,  only  retaining  so  much 
of  his  time  as  they  could  pay  for.  This  arrangement 
enabled  the  Board  to  get  out  of  debt,  but  it  also  les- 
sened the  amount  of  work  done,  and  furnished 
another  cause  for  finding  fault  with  the  work. 

The  report  showed  that  though  there  had  not  been 
so  much  work  done,  there  had  been  something  accom- 
plished, and  the  State  and  district  organizations  had 

30 


466 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


been  kept  in  good  working  order.  They  were  all 
ont  of  debt,  and  had  small  sums  of  money  in  each 
treasury,  and  were  ready  to  go  forw  ard  in  the  work. 

The  convention  elected  a  new  board,  consisting  of 
D.  R.  Dungan,  President;  G.  T.  Carpenter,  Vice- 
President;  A.  Hickey,  Secretary;  T.  M.  Bruner, 
Treasurer,  and  re-elected  the  Evangelist. 

On  motion  of  Bro.  Monser  it  proceeded  to  take 
pledges  from  churches  and  individuals  for  the  com- 
ing year,  to  be  paid  to  the  State  Treasury.  The  State 
Evangelist  objected  to  the  taking  of  these  pledges, 
as  tending  to  destroy  the  relation  between  the  State 
and  district  organizations,  but  the  convention  was  not 
of  his  mind,  and  those  present  pledged  $450. 

During  the  next  two  years  our  work  as  a  people 
was  at  a  standstill.  We  were  passing  through  a 
crisis  that  was  to  decide  whether  we  could  become  a 
missionary  people  or  not. 

Our  next  Annual  meeting  was  held  in  Centerville, 
September  19, 1876.  The  report  of  the  Board  shows 
but  little  work  accomplished.  No  money  had  been 
received  from  any  of  the  district  treasuries,  and  most 
that  had  been  received  from  pledges,  had  been  ex- 
pended on  the  Burlington  Mission,  leaving  the  Board 
but  little  to  use  in  other  work. 

The  meeting  of  1877  was  held  in  DesMoines,  be- 
ginning September  4th.  Again  the  Board  reported 
very  little  done  in  any  way  except  what  was  done 
for  Burlington.  The  district  organizations  were 
dormant — killed  by  the  annual  pledge  system. 

At  this  convention  a  change  was  made  in  our  or- 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  CONVENTION.  467 

ganization,  so  that  no  church  was  entitled  to  repre- 
sentation in  our  convention,  unless  it  contributed  to 
our  treasury.  The  convention  also  appointed  an 
agent  to  look  after  the  Burlington  Mission,  and  raise 
a  fund  to  secure  the  property,  on  condition  that  the 
church  would  enter  into  an  agreement  that  would 
secure  said  property  to  the  convention,  in  case  the 
church  should  not  he  able  to  continue  at  that  point. 

In  both  these  changes  the  design  was  to  put  the 
convention  on  a  better  business  basis.  D.  R.  Dun- 
gan,  B.  W.  Johnson,  L.  Lane  and  Ira  Arney  were 
elected  as  Board,  and  J.  K.  Cornell  as  Evangelist. 
The  church  in  Burlington  refused  the  terms  on  which 
the  convention  offered  to  help  them,  so  we  had  to  let 
that  work  come  to  nought,  after  all  we  had  expended. 
That  being  settled,  the  Evangelist  took  up  the  work 
that  had  been  suspended  for  two  years,  that  of  re- 
viving and  caring  for  the  weak  and  disorganized 
churches.  This  work  he  pushed  with  energy  and 
success  till  February,  1878,  when  he  was  compelled 
to  quit  work  on  account  of  sickness  in  his  family, 
which  required  his  constant  attention  at  home. 
But  even  in  affliction,  while  he  could  not  be  in 
the  field,  he  did  a  good  work  by  correspondence — 
being  the  best  Corresponding  Secretary  we  have 
had,  as  the  report  of  the  Board  for  that  year  will 
show.  In  the  first  five  months  of  his  year  he  worked 
up  a  number  of  fields  and  located  preachers  in  them, 
and  by  correspondence  he  induced  sixty-four 
churches  to  adopt  the  present  plan  and  become 
members  of  the  convention  by  contributing  to  its 


468 


THE  IOWA  PULPIT. 


funds.  He  solicited  by  letter  two  hundred  and 
eighty  churches  to  get  sixty -four  responses. 

This  convention  made  another  radical  change  in 
the  Board,  electing  F.  M.  Drake,  President ;  J.  B. 
Vawter,  Vice-President;  J.  C.  Armentrout,  Secre- 
tary ;  and  J.  W.  Porter,  Treasurer.  D.  R.  Dungan, 
was  elected  State  Evangelist,  but  as  he  did  not  ac- 
cept the  work,  the  Board  employed  S.  Ely  as  State 
Evangelist,  who  labored  with  great  acceptance  for 
about  three  months,  when  he  resigned  on  account  of 
throat  troubles.  After  his  resignation  there  was  no 
more  done  till  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the  con- 
vention, which  was  in  Oskaloosa,  September  2,  1879. 

This  convention  adopted  a  new  constitution,  the 
same  that  governs  the  convention  to  this  time,  with 
the  exception  that  two  amendments  have  been  made 
to  Article  3,  the  article  that  defines  terms  of  mem- 
bership— the  first  to  make  Life  Memberships  and  the 
second  to  do  away  with  Annual  Memberships. 

It  elected  J.  K.  Cornell,  President ;  G.  T.  Carpen- 
ter, Vice-President;  S.  Ely,  Secretary;  and  B.  W. 
Johnson,  Treasurer ;  and  J.  B.  Vawter  was  selected 
as  State  Evangelist,  who  entered  at  once  on  the  work 
giving  his  whole  time  to  it. 

The  pledges  made  at  this  convention  amounted  to 
only  $99. 

The  cause  of  State  missions  prospered  during  that 
year,  the  first  in  our  history  that  we  kept  an  Evan- 
gelist all  his  time  in  the  field  and  came  out  with 
money  in  the  treasury,  and  no  indebtedness. 


HISTORY  IOWA  CHRISTIAN  OONVEHTTION".  469 

The  report  of  the  Board,  to  the  Animal  Convention, 
at  Mt.  Pleasant,  September  7, 1880,  shows  that  after 
paving  all  orders  we  had  $334  on  hand. 

This  convention  elected  J.  K.  Cornell,  G.  T.  Car- 
penter, A.  C.  Corbin,  and  C.  E.  Fuller  as  Board,  and 
J.  B.  Yawter  and  A.  J.  Garrison  were  selected  as 
Evangelists.  Both  these  men  were  kept  in  the  field 
that  year  and  the  report  to  the  convention  at  West 
Liberty  shows  that  fifteen  new  churches  were  started, 
eleven  fields  worked  np  and  pastors  located  in  them, 
besides  much  other  work. 

These  brethren  were  continued  in  the  field  the 
next  year,  and  by  the  liberality  of  one  good  brother, 
the  Board  was  enabled  to  add  a  third  Evangelist  to 
the  work.  J.  H.  Painter  was  selected  and  proved  to 
be  the  right  man  for  the  place. 

In  1882,  J.  B.  Vawter  retired  from  the  work  of  Evan- 
gelist, locating  as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Altoona. 
In  1883,  A.  J.  Garrison  retired  locating  as  pastor  at 
Humeston.  J.  H.  Painter  continues  in  the  work. 
The  places  of  the  others  have  been  filled,  and  to-day 
the  Iowa  Christian  Convention  keeps  four  men  at 
work  as  Evangelists  and  owns  property  and  con- 
trolls  interests  amounting  to  thousands  of  dollars. 
It  lias  the  confidence  of  our  entire  brotherhood,  and 
grows  stronger  every  year. 


DATE  DUE 


CAYLORD 


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